


Cannonball

by Aermin



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Murder Mystery, Not Canon Compliant, ghost story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-26
Updated: 2010-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29102406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aermin/pseuds/Aermin
Summary: For the years after Sozin’s Comet returned, Aang has been helping the world sort itself out. Now, he has a string of peculiar and grotesque murders to solve, as it looks like the Spirit World is involving itself in the lives of mortals.  Yet another mystery, suspicions of “witchcraft” arise, giving Aang another puzzle to solve.  Meanwhile, Aang still has all his diplomatic Avatar duties to impart, or else the people of the world will think he’s failed them again.  When all this is piling up on him, what is an Avatar to do?**note: written in 2010, before Legend of Korra was announced**
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Zuko/Mai





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cowritten with **Reader_of_Books** for the [2010 Avatar Big Bang collection](https://sites.google.com/site/avatarbigbang/home/cannonball)  
>   
> This was written before The Legend of Korra was announced, and conceived without any notion of those events, nor any of the canon comics, and so could be considered alternate universe.
> 
> Also, just as the Avatar universe was created by others, neither can we claim credit for many of the stories told among the cast. Particularly in the first chapter, Aang's story is taken from part of an old Sioux legend, whereas Katara's is a tale that has many variants among the Canadian and Greenland Inuit.

The moon hung gibbous over the mountainous landscape, its silver light leaving each crag and peak in sharp relief. The air held a bite, and the three teenagers huddled on a flying bison shivered despite their nest of quilts and blankets.

“And so the Master and the Student set up camp in the woods by the burial platform, and settled down for the night. At midnight, they awoke to the noise of something in the bush.

“ ‘Is it a hungry Moose-Lion?’ the Student cried, jumping to his feet. 

“The Master shook his head. ‘No, it is not a big enough noise.’

“ ‘Is it an angry Platypus-Bear?’ the Student exclaimed, peering through the entrance to the tent. 

“The Master shook his head. ‘No, it is not a heavy enough noise.’

“ ‘Is it an evil spirit, come here to do us harm?’ the Student worried.

“The Master asked what the Student could see.

“ ‘I can’t see much, because it is too dark. It looks a bit like a person.’

“The Master laughed. ‘Oh, it’s just the dead girl, let her in.’ ”

“Wait, _WHAT?_ ”

“Don’t interrupt, Sokka!”

The incredulous boy didn’t let go of the reins, but swung around so that he was fully facing the pair curled up in the saddle. “No, there has to be some weird kind of Airbender explanation that you were about to get to, right Aang? Because you don’t just say, ‘oh, hey, it’s a dead girl, let her in’!”

“No. In the story, they were just being kind.”

“HOW is letting a DEAD PERSON into your tent KIND?”

“Well, they gave her tea, and food, and medicine, so she got better.”

“That is so stupid!”

“It’s a true story!”

“It’s a dumb story, about dumb people and dumb tea.”

“Well, at least it wasn’t about food that eats people!” Katara finally interjected.

“The whole point, Sokka, was that the Master didn’t jump to conclusions, and saw beyond the obvious!”

“You mean the obvious fact that you don’t invite dead people in for tea and cookies! Sheesh! I’m never going to understand Airbenders!”

Katara interrupted, “Well, I have a story I don’t think I’ve told you guys before.”

“Yeah, because I’m sure that’s possible.”

“Oh shut it, Sokka. I overheard this one at the North Pole.”

“A Northern Watertribe story? Neato. Is it full of Waterbending?”

“Um, no, I don’t think so. Now, I just overheard it the one time, so I might not remember the whole thing…”

“As long as the ending isn’t ‘teatime’.”

“Or cannibalistic food!”

“No. Actually, this story is about a family.”

“Sounds good so far.”

“Well, there was a Mother and a Daughter. They lived far from any village, out near the ice floes. They spent their nights in their tiny ice hut crowded together around their only grease lamp. It was cold, and it was dark, and they were often very, very hungry.

“This woman’s Husband had died months before, on a hunting accident. They had very little food; usually only what fish they could catch through holes in the ice. However, the Mother had a secret treasure: a small box full of dried berries, saved from the summer. One night while the wind blew sharp and cold, the Mother and the Daughter sat around the lamp eating these berries, and for once they were happy and forgot about the darkness outside.

“The woman’s Son, however, lay in the entrance to the hut, blocking the wind’s way in with his own body. The Son was not given any sweet summer berries, and all he’d had to eat had been some rotten fish that afternoon. He hated the hunger, and he hated the cold, but he didn’t hate the dark shadows cast by the lamp, because the Son was blind.

“The Mother resented her blind Son, because he could not help them hunt, and he was a burden to care for. Their food stores were almost empty. The Mother fed her Daughter, because she was young and beautiful, but gave the Son only rotten meat and harsh insults, and made him sit outside in the cold where he couldn’t get in the way.

“The Son couldn’t stand being useless anymore. One morning, he asked his Sister, ‘Have the summer flowers started to bud yet?’

“ ‘Not yet,’ the Sister replied.

“ ‘Has the great glacier calved its springtime icebergs yet?’

“ ‘Not yet,’ the Sister replied yet again, knowing where this was going.

“ ‘Have the red-throated humming-loons, migrating at the changing of the seasons, returned to the lake yet?’

“ ‘Yes, they have.’

“The Son knew what he had to do.

“His Sister led him down to the lake, which was still partially frozen. The Son sat down to wait right by the water’s edge. After hours of patience, the wind started to pick up, and a Red-throated Humming-loon drifted across the glassy surface of the water.

“ ‘I know why you are here,’ the Loon sang. ‘And I can help you. Climb onto my back, and the cold water will end your suffering.’

“The Son didn’t hesitate, but clambered on to the small bird’s back, and together they dove deep beneath the ice. Three times they dove, until the pressure sang in the Son’s ears, and they breached for breath once more.

“ ‘What can you see?’ the Humming-loon asked.

“ ‘I can see,’ the Son replied. ‘I can see the shore. I can see the great glacier to the north-east. I can see my Sister, standing by our winter ice-hut.’

“ ‘Good,’ the Red-throated Humming-loon laughed, fluttering its wings. ‘I’m glad that I could help.’

“The Son trudged back across the ice, and hugged his sister. Dripping wet, he entered the hut, and began to dry off by the fire. The light of the coals flickered in his eyes, because now he knew. He had been blind because rancid seal fat had been rubbed into his eyes, but the cold, dark water of the lake had washed it away. In her grief and sorrow, his Mother had rubbed the rancid seal fat in his eyes, because now that her Husband was dead no man could take his place in their family.

“The Mother had watched her Son come in, and could tell that he was no longer blind. She quietly asked him, ‘Are you hungry? Would you like something good to eat?’

“ ‘What?’ the Son bit out, ‘Like rotten fish? No, _thanks_.’

“From then on, the Son did a lot of good for the family: hunting, fishing, taking care of the dogs, and helping his Sister with her chores. He only ate food that he caught by himself, went to sleep after everybody else, and was up early to start the fire before his Mother or his Sister rose each day. The Mother was glad, because as the days were getting longer, they had plenty of food, plenty of fuel to burn, and fewer problems around their camp. She still felt bad about blinding her Son earlier, but it was less of a guilty feeling, and more of a bitterness that she was no longer needed to provide for her Daughter.

“One day, the Mother heard laughter over by the edge of the ice floe. She saw it was her Son and Daughter hunting the small Snow-whales during their migration, her Son with the spear, and her Daughter anchoring the rope. There was a lot of tugging and splashing, and it looked like they were having a great time without her.

“ ‘Can I try?’ the Mother asked.

“ ‘Sure,’ the Son slowly agreed. ‘You hold the spear, and I’ll hold the rope.’

“The mother didn’t think anything of this, because he was her Son, after all. She held the spear, and when the largest Snow-whale she had ever seen swam by, her son called out:

“ ‘That’s a good one.’

“The Mother let the spear fly.

“The spear struck hard and true, and the Whale panicked and dove. The Mother rejoiced over her success, because now she, too, could hunt. 

“The Son let go of the rope.

“The Mother shrieked as the dying Snow-whale pulled her beneath the icy water. The Daughter leapt to the edge, trying to grab her hand, but she was too late. The Son stood back, and watched the last bubbles disappear.

“The Mother sank to the seabed, tangled and anchored to the dead Snow-whale, but somehow she did not die. It was her bitterness that preserved her. She hung there, deep in the crushing water, unable to tell how much time passed through the dark water. Her eyes grew hard and cold, and her skin thickened in her rage. Her long braids, tied each morning by her beautiful Daughter, caught on her face, twisted and curled around one another. The pressure of the water combined with the pressure of her hatred, until she noticed that when she kicked she drifted free of the anchoring rope. The force of her bitterness had compressed her body into that of a small, sleek whale, and her braids into a long spiralled horn. Now free, the Mother-whale swam away.

“Meanwhile, the Daughter sat at the edge of the ice each day, weeping. Nothing the Son could do or say could stop her tears, and so this is the reason that the sea tastes like salt.

“The Long-horned Rhino-whale is sacred to the people of the Northern Water Tribe, because it is a reminder that revenge only ever brings about bitterness and tears.”

Sokka’s voice nearly cracked as he broke the ensuing silence. “…And you’ve only heard that story once?”

“Er, yes?” She winced.” I might have gotten some of the details wrong.”

Aang bounced a bit where he sat, his eyes wide with delight as he gazed at the girl he loved. “It was a great story! Depressing, yes, but you told it well, Katara.”

“Thanks, I guess. I dunno, I’m never going to be as good at storytelling as some of the Elders…”

“That’s why they’re called Elders, _‘cause they’re old_.” Sokka rolled his eyes. “They’ve had practice.”

“Yeah, but there are people our own age that can tell a good story! You know Suki is almost as good as Gran-Gran!” She sighed, and slumped against the side of the saddle. “I miss hanging out with Suki.”

“You? I _really_ miss Suki.”

Aang echoed their sighs. “I miss her, too. But you know she and Toph each have important things to do. I was surprised when Suki stayed apart from the Kyoshi Warriors for as long as she did!”

“Putting such a positive spin on things is Katara’s job, Aang.”

“Hey!” Katara squawked, kicking at her brother.

“Yeah,” he continued, ignoring the feeble attempt at violence. “I miss her, but I want her to be happy with what she’s doing, and maybe later she’ll come to…us, again.”

“Well, we know where she lives, even if the Kyoshi Warriors aren’t at home right now! And,” he grinned slyly, “she knows where you live, too!”

“Aang!” Sokka coloured. “That’s besides the point. Even though I _am_ glad that Suki and Gran-Gran get along so well, Suki and the girls are doing their thing, and it sounds like they’re good at it ‘cause they’re travelling all over the Earth Kingdoms. Sheesh, even Toph is contracting herself out to the major cities, and busting their guards into shape. And I’m up here, sitting on a bison, telling stories.”

“That’s not really true, Sokka! “ Aang protested. “We’re helping out the Earth Kingdoms, too. I mean, right now King Héshi _specifically_ requested for our help for his city.”

“He requested your help, Aang!”

“Well, I need your help. I need you guys. We’ve gone over this.”

“Yeah, and you were so sappy about it that Toph kicked your butt. Whatever, buddy. I think Katara’s story just put me in a bad mood.”

“Let’s just do whatever we need to do here,” his sister grumbled. “Toph’s asked us to pick her up when we’re done, and I can’t _wait_ to have someone who’s a worse storyteller than I am.”

“Don’t worry, Katara. Toph’ll just make fun of you, too.”

“Oh, hey!” Aang exclaimed, as Appa crested a mountain and the vista opened up before them. “I think we’re almost there!”

“Is that Xuebeng? It’s not much of a city.”

“I guess after Ba Sing Se, everything else seems small. It looks about the same size as Omashu, I think.”

The three teenagers considered the landscape unfolding below them, glistening in the moonlight. The clusters of buildings trailed a river down the far side of the mountain. As the water reached the lowlands, the city gave way to more rural farmland, taking advantage of the fertile silt in the valley grounds. There were small villages visible on the horizon, but the jewel of the region was clearly the city of Xuebeng.

Sokka shook his head at the comparison. “No, Omashu surrounds an entire peak, so we don’t see all of it at once. This place is a lot smaller, maybe half the size. But,” he continued, his gaze shifting to dark plumes of smoke rising from the community’s edges, “that doesn’t mean that King Héshi’s problems are small.”

“All right.” Katara’s face was stern as she rolled up her sleeves. “Let’s find out what’s going on.”

“Come on, Appa! Let’s go to the city of Xuebeng!”


	2. Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, arriving directly at King Héshi’s palace was out of the question. They camped outside the city limits, and when the city started to wake and begin its day, they began theirs. As they wandered towards the palace to find out why they were needed, they discussed their upcoming audience with the Earth king.

“Why shouldn’t all of us see him?” said Sokka. “We’re all doing the dirty work here.”

“But Aang is the only one he asked for,” Katara said reasonably. “It wouldn’t seem right. We aren’t the Avatar.”

“But we’re Aang’s Gang! We always go with him!”

“When we visit Zuko, yes. When we visit Bumi, yes. But that was all established on Aang’s Avatar Quest. We don’t know this King, he doesn’t know us, and like you said last night, he didn’t ask for all of us.”

“But—”

“Maybe Katara’s right, Sokka,” Aang interrupted as they reached the front of the palace. “You guys can wait out here, and enjoy the fresh air. It shouldn’t take to long to find out what the king needs us for, and then we can go from there.”

Sokka sulked as Aang made his ways up the stairs, and sat down on the bottom step with a thump. Katara quietly joined him, hoping he wasn’t going to start mumbling like he normally did when things didn’t go his way.

The day was proving to be bright and sunny, much to Katara’s silent delight. Growing up at the South Pole, you either had a constant sun, or no sun at all. Either way, it was never warm. Katara breathed in the smell of the fresh-baked earth – another luxury that she hadn’t completely gotten used to – and almost relished the task in front of them.

Almost.

Ties between the Fire Nation and the two remaining nations had been rocky at best. Fire Lord Zuko was hard put to soothe everyone’s feelings, particularly because many people in the Fire Nation still believed that they were superior to their neighbours, and should be in control. Also, many people in the Earth Kingdom had grown up with the Fire Nation ruling over them; now that Zuko was beginning to reverse that fact, there was often confusion and rebellion. The release of Omashu had been the biggest fiasco to date: Mai’s parents’ had their feathers sorely ruffled when Zuko had declared they were no longer the Governors of New Ozai, and that the city was returning to its original name, and its original king.

Then, before Mai’s parents could kill their recently crowned Fire Lord, Zuko had dropped to one knee and had proposed to Mai on the spot. Zuko later said that he’d done it purely to pacify Mai’s parents, as being the Fire Lord’s In-Laws was a higher rank then governing a city ever would be. Katara always suspected that it was just an excuse. Although Zuko never said anything, it had been clear how much he’d missed Mai when he’d joined Aang’s Quest. He had just been looking for the right time and opportunity to ask, so he knew he wouldn’t be rejected.

So the political switchover had begun. Toph had decided to help Bumi in the transfer period of Omashu, and joined the military there. Katara and Sokka had offered to help Aang and Zuko in transferring control in the Kingdoms. They didn’t need to worry about their Tribe because their father, Gran-Gran, and Pakku were all there to take care of any issues that may arise. In fact, with the help of some of Pakku’s advanced students, the Southern city’s walls and watchtowers were standing strong once again. Katara smiled at the thought, as Momo wheeled above them in the sky. All in all, things were going rather well.

“What is taking so long?” Sokka muttered, already out of his bad mood. Now he just looked plain bored. 

“He _just_ went in there, Sokka!”

“And hey! He’s already out!” he cried, bouncing to his feet as Aang descended the palace steps. “So, what’s our mission? Does it have to do with that smoke we saw last night? Rogue Firebenders? Crazy Spirit stuff? Some noble’s baby kitten-robin stuck in a tree?”

“Fire Nation General Ryuko and Earth Nation General Yugamae are at odds. They’re supposed to be organizing their new military rosters and stuff to incorporate both nations’ armies, but they can’t agree on it. The Earth king wants them both brought here so he and I can get them talking peacefully.”

“What, the king can’t do that on his own? And why are the Fire Nation soldiers still even here? Sokka asked. “Why don’t they just go back to the Fire Nation? I’m sure Zuko could find another place where they’re needed.”

“A lot of the Fire Nation soldiers have homes here, and have started families.” Aang answered. “But I guess we should visit their general first. I have a feeling he may be more difficult to convince to go to King Héshi’s talks.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sokka countered. “That Earth General must have been suppressed for quite a long time. I don’t see him wanting to cooperate with anyone from the Fire Nation.”

“Of course neither one is going to want to talk to the other,” Katara sighed. “Maybe we should split up. Aang, you would probably be able to get through to the Fire Nation general better than Sokka and I would, especially since everyone knows you’re friends with Zuko. The two of us can speak with General Yugamae. We can sympathize with what he’s been going through with the Fire Nation oppression.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Aang. “They might have felt attacked if we ganged up on them four-on-one.”

“ _Four_ on one?” Last time she’d checked, she, Sokka and Aang equalled three.

“You, me, Sokka, and Momo!” Momo crooned at the sound of his name, and Aang smiled as he scratched the lemur’s chin.

“That settles it,” said Sokka, his eyes darting from side to side, and Katara knew he was up to something other than the mission.

“Aang and Momo go do their ‘I’m the Avatar, let’s love each other’ thing while Katara and I go deal with that other guy. But first, we have to stop somewhere.”

“And where exactly would that be, Sokka?” Katara still had to ask, although she could guess exactly where this was going.

“And can’t it wait until after we talk to the generals?” Aang put in. “This mission is a little more important, I think.”

“More important?” Sokka whimpered. He fell to his knees. Aang looked slightly concerned, but at the ripe age of fourteen, he was beginning to come out of his gullible stage. Katara just rolled her eyes at her brother’s antics.

“How can you say that, Aang?” Sokka moaned. “After all we’ve been through… After all those years together… You still think it’s not important…”

“Get to the point Sokka,” Katara said, crossing her arms. She was beginning to regret suggesting splitting up and being stuck with her actor of a brother.

“I thought you cared!” Sokka sobbed, grabbing Aang’s legs and nearly unbalancing him. “I. NEED. MEAT!”

“That’s pathetic, Sokka,” Katara muttered. Aang, she was slightly shocked to see, was actually looking slightly angry.

“Sokka, get a grip,” Aang snapped, disentangling himself from the older boy’s grip. “You know, it’s not the end of the world if we don’t eat lunch together, or spirits forbid, you could eat _after_ we do our job!”

“But, I…”

“No buts.” Aang adjusted his grip on his airstaff and turned to Katara. “I know you’ll manage to talk to the Earth General and get him to listen. You have a way with people.”

Aang clicked his airstaff open and jumped into the air, Momo trailing in his wake. Sokka watched after Aang for a moment, then looked to Katara. 

“What’s with him?”

“I don’t think Aang is happy that there’s still political strife and squabbles between the Three Nations. I mean, he took out Ozai over a year ago, and people are still rebelling and wanting revenge! The whole point to everything we did back then was so this political bashing would come to an end. And it hasn’t.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than two years to undo a hundred’s worth of damage,” Sokka replied, finally getting to his feet. “Aang has a huge job on his hands, and he knows that. Defeating Ozai was only the beginning. He now has to convince a nation that it is not the dominant force, as well as convince the other nations the revenge isn’t the answer.” Sokka sighed. “There are probably other things he doesn’t want to talk about, either.”

“Like what?” asked Katara, immediately on the defensive. “What wouldn’t Aang want to tell me? He tells me everything!”

“He used to tell you everything, Katara. It’s not a question of whether he trusts you or not, but we guys just have a tendency to not talk about our feelings until we’re ready.” Sokka gave his sister a sidelong glance. “And he isn’t going to tell even you until he’s ready.”

~~~

“Step one: divide to conquer. Step two: do the conquering.”

Aang sighed. Convincing a Fire Nation General – who has most likely been in the Army since he was of the age to be conscripted, along with his father and great-grandfather – that it was better sharing the land instead of hoarding it was going to be like trying to convince a lemur that there was such a thing was too many fruit pies.

Close to impossible.

Still, Aang had to try. He didn’t want to involve Zuko in this (he’d seemed even more distracted than usual lately), but if the general wouldn’t listen to him, the Avatar, he may listen to both him and his Fire Lord. Although some general’s belief in his was still shaky, Zuko still had enough support that disobeying was punishable as full treason.

And no good would come to even a banished general in a world where people were still rather pissed with the Fire Nation as a whole.

Aang spotted the residences that had been given to the Fire Nation troops and found the largest house there, where the Fire Nation banner proudly hung. Aang landed in font of the house and knocked on the door. He then stood up straight and tall, holding his airstaff like a staff of office. First impressions were everything.

A young girl answered the door and looked up at Aang with big, round eyes. She didn’t say anything. He suddenly realized that the authoritative, first-impression stance he had taken had most likely stunned the girl.

“Um, hello. My name is Aang. I was looking for General Ryuko. Is he-“

“PAPA!” She suddenly screamed and ran back into the house. “There’s a funny looking man at the door! Papa!”

So much for that good first impression.

The General came to the front door, looking slightly cross. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying.”

“Huh? No, no, sir, General Ryuko. I’m here on behalf of King Héshi. My name is Aang, and I’m the Avatar.”

Ryuko stared at Aang for a minute, then collapsed on the doorframe. “Thank the gods you’re here, Avatar Aang! General Yugamae won’t listen to me and all I want to do is work well with him. He keeps insisting everything I do is wrong, or is an attempt to take over, and we nearly always end up fighting…”

And Aang could only stand there in surprise.

~~~

Sokka watched his sister out of the corner of his eye as they walked the short distance to the General’s house. She uncharacteristically quiet, but, he figured, also characteristically moody, so there couldn't be too much wrong with her. As long as she didn't say anything stupid to the General, this could be over quickly and he could get his long-delayed lunch.

As they passed by the clothing market, Sokka heard one woman whispering to a seamstress behind the stalls. "I swear, if I catch them stealing my fruit pies again, I'm through. There will be an execution for sure."

"You saw them steal them?" the seamstress asked in horror.

"No, but what else can steal a fruit pie from a second-floor window?"

“That's so cruel,” Katara muttered. "To destroy a lemur that way just because of its nature to eat sweet things. Aang really should start keeping an eye on Momo if he's stealing fruit pies."

"Are you sure it was Momo? Anyway, if this place is so stuffy over a something stealing fruit pies, then I'm not sure I want to know how an Earth General is going to react to sharing control with a Fire Nation general."

Katara couldn't deny this logic, so they continued in silence to the general’s house. Finding the place was no problem; the front garden was one of the most imposing things they’d ever seen. Sokka couldn’t find a single green thing in this rock garden, besides the house. As they made their way up the pathway, he saw there were the makings of a statue, and from what he could tell, it was going to be a _very_ imposing rock dragon.

“Man, do I get the impression that this guy doesn’t like company,” Sokka muttered to his sister, unable to make himself raise his voice any louder. Katara could only nod by this point.

Sokka knocked on the front door and held his breath, certain he wasn’t going to get a word in edgewise before a hulk of an Earthbender threw him out. He swallowed. Maybe he should have traded with Aang and let Mr. Avatar Powers deal with this guy.

However, the man who answered the door was not nearly as scary is Sokka’s imagination, besides his intimidating scowl. He was clearly the man they were looking for, but he was along the same build as Zuko. Sokka had to admit, though, that without a Zuko-style scar such a scowl just didn’t look that menacing. Sokka breathed out slowly. They may yet get out of this alive.

“Can I help you?” the general asked in the least helpful tone Sokka had ever heard.

“Yes. We’re here on behalf of King Héshi and Avatar Aang to…”

“Oh thank goodness!” General Yugamae collapsed on Sokka in what appeared to be relief. “I’ve been needing your help! General Ryuko won’t listen to me! All I want to do is work well with him, but he keeps insisting that I’m doing everything wrong, or an attempt to kick him out of the Kingdom, and we always nearly end up fighting…”

Katara and Sokka could only stand there in surprise.

~~~

By the time Aang, Sokka, and Katara were able to get their respective generals to the throne room of King Héshi, it was well past noon. Aang joined the King and the two generals for the discussions, while Katara, Sokka and Momo loitered around the front of the palace, once again waiting for their friend. Sokka complained loudly about the lack of food – there was a steamed bun stand not twenty feet away, but Katara wouldn’t let him get any since Aang wasn’t with them and hadn’t eaten either – and he kept throwing Katara sharp glances, trying to figure our were she had hidden the change purse.

“One bun. One! That’s all I’m asking for while we wait.”

“Yes, and then you’ll share some with Momo, and then come crawling back to me saying he ‘stole’ some and want money for one more because you didn’t get a full steamed bun.”

“It’s not my fault Momo’s a thief. And he really did steal that bun that other time!”

“Of course he did,” Katara said sarcastically. “But you can hold on until Aang gets out of his meeting. It shouldn’t be more than another half an hour.”

“HALF AN HOUR?! _KATARA!_ ” 

Sokka collapsed on the ground and stared at the meat bun cart with such a longing that the vendor was beginning to shift uncomfortably.

“Sokka, you’ve gone longer than that without food. Remember that one winter when we had that otter-dog plundering our stores, and the men couldn’t go out to hunt because of the blizzard, and it was still two weeks before the sun would start rising again?”

Sokka got up on his knees and turned to face his sister.

“We didn’t have a steamed bun cart twenty feet away from us wafting the delicious smell of juicy meat bun-ness towards us! And,” Sokka’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I bet they’re most likely serving tea and food to Aang for their discussion anyways. He’s the Avatar. _It’s only polite_.”

Katara frowned. “I suppose they could be…”

Sokka nodded fervently, drool flying.

“Fine,” she said, pulling the bag of coins from her pocket. Sokka’s jaw dropped; he hadn’t thought she would put it in the most obvious place. “Here you go.”

Sokka grabbed the bag before she could change her mind and ran over to the vendor, who looked slightly disturbed at Sokka’s overall bounciness.

“Eight meat buns please!”

“ _Eight?_ ” called Katara.

“You made me wait, so I’m extremely hungry!”

The vendor was just checking to see how his wares were coming along when Aang came out of the Palace. The younger boy wasted no time catching Katara up on what had happened.

“That’s all I wanted, was for them to talk! Neither one would let the other speak for the first ten minutes! It turns out this whole thing started over a disagreement over what kind of tea to have for their first meeting, and it exploded from there.” He looked over at Sokka. “Oh, are you getting lunch? Great, I haven’t had anything yet today. Do they have veggie?”

Sokka waited for the blow to fall from Katara, but she was looking off in the distance. When the two boys turned to look, they saw what had caught her attention: a thick plume of black smoke was rising into the air at the horizon.

“Something’s burning,” Katara muttered.

“So much for the discussions we just had,” Aang complained. “Sokka, we have to go!”

“But the buns-“

“Sokka!”

Sokka took one last despairing look at what were supposed to be his meat buns, and then ran after the others, cursing whoever had interrupted his lunch by causing a ruckus and burning… something.


	3. Chapter 3

“So, where are the Firebenders?” Sokka questioned, as he hopped off Appa’s saddle, closely behind the others.

Aang frowned, looking around at the edge of the dusty town. “Where’s the army?” The place was quiet, but even though Appa had landed on the far side of the small town, there was barely a soul in sight. You’d think that people would be running around securing things from either a marauding army platoon or a fuming wildfire. Not…nothing.

“Where’s the fighting?” Katara continued. “I mean, I can barely see the smoke anymore.”

“Well, maybe the problem solved itself? I know it’s not something we come across often, but maybe we’re not needed for once.”

Aang kicked at the dust of the road; the main way leading through the town. “You could be right, Sokka, but I think I’d like to take a look around, just in case. You never know.” If he was right, then the source of the smoke should come from the other side of the community, by the cliffs. Just a quick look wouldn’t hurt anything, and at least he wouldn’t feel like he abandoned people in trouble.

“All right, but then can we please go and get some lunch? I hate to repeat myself all the time, but I’m starting to get cranky.”

With a peep, a flurry of pale and tan fur whirled its way up out of the underbrush, managing to carefully balance an apple on Sokka’s head before leaping to Katara’s shoulder. “Are you coming with us, Momo?” she giggled. “You’re going to come and help the nice people, too?”

It’s possible that the lemur’s eyes opened a little wider at her question, but you’d be hard-pressed to notice. He gave a soft little chirrup, and glided his way back over to the bushes where Appa lounged.

“Well, I guess that’s a ‘no’,” she shrugged. “Your loss, Momo.”

“We’ll bring something back for lunch for you guys!” Aang called over to their companions. He turned toward the strange buildings with an uncomfortable feeling churning in his stomach. Huh. Weird, Sokka’s hunger must be the contagious kind. Well, the faster they discover what’s going on, the faster they could find some lunch. “Let’s head out.”

The walk into the town was blessedly short; in their hurry they had landed closer than they normally would, yet the eerie silence made the excursion feel long and dark. Despite the sunshine, the acrid taste of ash in the air made the sky heavy and the thatched huts and buildings loom.

An old man stepped out from a shadowed doorway, nearly barrelling into the group. “You kids! What are you doing here?” he exclaimed, brushing imaginary dust off his deep green robes.

Katara jumped and Sokka sneezed. Aang was left to smile and reply, “I’m sorry. We saw smoke earlier, and we thought we could lend a hand to put out the fire. My friend here, Katara, is a Waterbender, and I’m Avatar Aang, you see, so…”

The older man tutted, yet had a kind look to his face. “I thank you, and our village thanks you, but everything is fine. It was a controlled fire, a celebration of sorts.”

“So, it was like a bonfire, during the day? I didn’t know they did that in the Earth Kingdoms.”

“Well, not exactly. But come, join in on our celebrations! Our village would love for the Avatar and his friends to see just what we are capable of.”

Sokka shifted, looking much more relaxed with the invitation. “Well, I do like festival food.”

“So, um, what is this celebration about?” Katara questioned. “It’s not a holiday, is it?”

“I’m glad you asked, young lady!” His smile was warm and charming, as he casually led the group through the village. Activity was picking up, and the oppressive mood seemed to have virtually disappeared. “You see, we’ve finally rid our town of some rather nasty pests!”

“Ox-rats?”

“Oh. Oh, no. Although we did have a run-in with those a few years ago. But anyway, no. We had a little coven of witches just here by the cliffs.”

“ _Witches??_ ”

There was a crowd around them, now, but the village elder looked even more comfortable discussing such a crazy topic with his friends and neighbours around him. “Yes. We’d put up with them for nearly three years, now, but they just wouldn’t move on. They’d infected our village, right? And now the children were starting to get sick, and there hasn’t been rain for weeks, and we had enough.”

“We had to do something. For the children,” another villager asserted.

“Yes,” the elder agreed, gesturing for the group to look at the edge of the cliff. They were on the other side of the village, a short distance away from any other shops or dwellings. The wind curled up from the sea to tousle hair and hemlines, and nearly tore the man’s voice away. “Look, here’s where they had nested. See how the rock is all barren? You can tell where their poison started to effect the very Earth itself.”

There was no big, cheerful bonfire; it was the ruins of a house.

It was a simple little house. Just a trio of rooms: a central space and two offshoots. They were all rather small, actually, so it was a rather poor dwelling, but probably cosy. Aang could make all this out by the charred stones of the foundation.

“What. Did you do?”

The edge of something yellow caught his eye — a bright and happy colour, hidden in the grey ash. A saucer. It was a cheap saucer, child-sized, and with little yellow turtle-ducks hand-painted around the edge.

Katara and Sokka were yelling at each other again. He should probably pay attention, before things got too heated. Carefully, he placed the saucer back into its bed of grey dust.

“Look, Katara, it’s not any of our business! There’s no one here to help, so let’s just get out of here. The owners probably already ran off long ago.”

The village elder glanced at the smoking rubble, and smiled. “You’re right and you’re wrong.” His eyes flashed, catching the light of the coals as he stepped toward the group. “We don’t need any more help because we _kept_ the witches from running off.”

“Yeah!” a voice cried from the crowd.

“We nailed the doors shut, and got ‘em as they slept!”

“As they slept!”

“So as you can see, Avatar Aang,” the elder continued, ignoring the soot and leaves twirling about his feet in a peculiar breeze, “we are able to take care of ourselves. We appreciate your concern, but we have shown our strength today in the battle of good versus evil… _without_ your help.”

“You killed them in their sleep?” Aang’s voice was low, and the crowd hushed to hear his words against the rising wind. “You burned the people inside? And you say that’s _good?_ ”

“I don’t believe you!” Katara nearly choked on her words. “The army is right over in the city! Haven’t you ever heard of a lawful arrest?”

“King Héshi doesn’t believe in witchcraft! It’s likely he’s consorted with demons, himself! We had to deal with the vermin on our own terms. For the good of the village!”

“But still, this seems like too violent an answer.”

“I think you’ve made a big mistake. Taking a life is never the right answer.”

“Witches aren’t alive.” The village elder replied.

“What are you talking about?” Suddenly, Sokka had on his science face. 

“A witch isn’t a person, so they aren’t alive. They’re monsters, through and through, and they were corrupting our children. We had to save the children.”

A pebble whistled through the air by Sokka’s shoulder.

“Now, I respect that you’re the Avatar and all, but I would have thought that you’d understand about monsters and spirits and stuff. Maybe it’s too much dealing with ‘em Firebenders, you’ve lost a bit of your intellect. I think we’ll have to ask you to leave before the children start hearing your crazy ideas, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll tell you who can hear our crazy ideas—!”

“Sokka! Let’s just go.”

Another pebble skittered at Aang’s feet, and the village elder spat on the rising dust. “Your sister’s talking sense, boy. Finally.”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

No one was sure who said it, but hushed words hung in the smoky air even after the trio withdrew from the burned-out site, and away through the village: “Murderers.” 

~~~

The group was uncharacteristically silent.

That had been…depressing. After all his work to get the four nations to live and work together in harmony, they turn on their own people. Aang wasn’t sure whether or not to even believe their story about witches; the idea seemed all too convenient. But whether or not it was true, it was all too clear that people had died back there. A family had been locked in their house, and it was burned to the ground.

It was sickening.

Even with all his authority as the Avatar, there was nothing he could do. How do you punish a whole town for doing something that they thought was good, and healthy, and right? He could lecture for hours about how all life was equal, but there was nothing in his power that could reverse a murder.

First a morning trying to get Fire Nation colonists to talk nicely with Earth Kingdom politicians, and now an afternoon of a small village killing its own people. Lovely. Why couldn’t people even _try_ to get along? It made him frustrated enough that he just wanted to lash out, even though he knew more violence wouldn’t be the answer. He just had to take a deep breath, and continue doing everything he was able to do to help.

His stomach rumbled, but even though the shops were open, Aang didn’t really want to stop and get something to eat. As long as they could keep Sokka heading in one direction, they were almost back to Appa and Momo, and Aang was willing to just wait until they got far, far away from here before stopping anywhere again.

“Well.” Speak of the devil, Sokka broke the tense silence.

His sister snapped, “Well, _what?_ ”

“Well, maybe I don’t really know what to say!”

“Well, maybe _you_ shouldn’t go around making uncalled-for comments, then!”

“Well, Katara, maybe _you_ should give me a break! We’re all feeling uncomfortable in this horrible town, and I wanted to kill the silence!”

They all winced at his choice of words.

“Ah, I give up. I just don’t know how to deal with a village-load of stupid people.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do, anymore,” Aang sighed. “If only we’d gotten here earlier.”

“Don’t beat yourself up again. _Please_ , Aang. There was no way we could have known.”

“I don’t know. I guess so. But I still feel like it’s my fault that people are dead again.”

Sokka stumbled over a rock in the road. “What? No way. It’s awful, but it’s not your job to supervise every little town and village. I hate to say it, but bad stuff happens.”

“Yeah, but if there really were witches, then I should have known that something was going on with some, um, balance-y type thing.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Well, it’s hard to explain, but I have control over all four elements, right? That needs a four-way balance. I’m also the bridge between the spirit world and the human world, okay? That’s a different kind of balance. So if the elements are all around me, like _whoooosh_ , and then I’m balancing them between the two worlds, like _faaaaaa_. So I’m holding this all like a big sphere, except it’s really a spiral, except that it’s more like a cube, and I’m not actually holding it. Anyway, a witch wouldn’t use any of those elements, right? They’re not a bender, so they don’t fit in to the natural order. And I don’t know how they’d fit into the balance of the two worlds, but they’d probably be a weird piece, and they’d _ziiing_ and effect the balance of all of it and I should _know_ about this kind of thing!”

The two siblings blinked and turned to look at each other, but then Sokka smiled. “Call me crazy, but I think I actually know what you mean. It was the sound effects that did it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it now.” Katara still looked uncertain. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, and right now I just want to get as far away from this place as possible.”

“How are you sure I’ll figure it out?”

“You always do.”

“She’s right, you know. And hey, you look like someone hit you in the face. You know what I bet would make you feel better?”

“I don’t need a distraction, Sokka.”

“No, but you look like you need some lunch! We’re all hungry, and we’re all upset.”

Katara made a face. “It feels almost disrespectful to say it, after what we saw, but I think he’s right.”

“Attagirl. Oh hey, is that a steamed bun cart? I’m gonna get one just bursting with meat, and Aang, I’ll get your one bursting with, um, vegetables or something!”

He sighed, and again his stomach rumbled. “Okay. We are almost back where we left Appa, and I don’t want to make many stops between here and Omashu.”

“Extra buns to go. Gotcha.” His mood instantly lightened, Sokka checked the change purse, and scampered over to the vendor’s cart.

After another moment with nothing to say, Katara softly changed the subject: “It’ll be nice to meet up with Toph and Bumi again.”

“Yeah. Fewer uncomfortable silences, more uncomfortable bruising.” 

There wasn’t really much to say to that, so Katara just sat on a nearby bench and enjoyed the sunshine. Aang edged a little closer to her, and watched Sokka dicker with the bun-seller. It was a little oasis of peace here, with his friends. It almost made him forget the ruins smoking on the other side of the town. He slouched a bit, but straightened as Sokka returned.

“Here you go, buddy,” Sokka said, passing over a small paper bag filled with warm buns. “Chocked full of vegetable goodness. Katara, I didn’t know if you wanted one of those, or if you wanted to wait for the meat buns with me.”

“You have to wait again?”

“ _I know!_ ” he groaned. “It’s the curse of the meat buns! They’re going to be almost five more minutes!”

The wait was tense. The gang just couldn’t shake the feeling of something wrong, like someone was watching them. Their eyes stung from the ash still in the air, but at least they were also surrounded by the aroma of gently steaming buns.

“Sir?” the cart’s owner finally called. “Sir, your buns are ready! Thank you for wait—HEY! GET BACK HERE! He stole the entire batch!” The short, black-haired boy didn’t even shoot a fearful glance over his shoulder, but clutched the bag of steamed buns tight to his chest as he darted between the buildings.

“What is WRONG with this town! Give me back my meat!”

Sokka was on target with boomerang, but the street shimmered, and it was as if the weapon had hit an invisible wall. Katara was on her feet as boomerang clattered to the ground. With a pop of her canteen’s lid, she sent a water-whip out to entangle the boy, but he was already around the corner. Sokka snatched up his favourite weapon and was in swift pursuit, and Aang vaulted to the rooftops with his glider. Their lunch was afoot!

Ice splattered against the walls, but the thief evaded Katara’s traps with uncanny skill. She stumbled against a sense of déjà vu, but shook it off; really, even if she had experience fighting a skilled acrobat, what good would it do in this situation? No, this required something bigger. 

A water barrel clattered to the street up ahead. Sokka swiped his boomerang like a club, attempting to hook the bag of buns out of the thief’s grasp. Fortune turned against him, however, as he stepped on one of Katara’s unsuccessful icy patches. Feeling the strain to his knee, he rolled, simultaneously throwing boomerang again. Once more, the boy dodged, but right into the path on Aang’s descent.

Aang latched on to the hoodlum’s arm, securing the paper-bagged lunch. The thief dropped the loot in attempt to flee and he whirled around, but cold tentacles of water shot up, entwining his legs is rapidly-encasing ice. His eyes widened almost comically as his three pursuers surrounded him, their audience following shortly behind.

“AHA!” Sokka crowed, seizing back the bag of buns. He inspected the remaining buns with awe and horror. “WHAT? How did you manage to eat _three_ of them? While you were running away?? I didn’t even see you do that!”

“Why did you take our stuff?”

“And what do you have to say for yourself?” Katara demanded. The boy mumbled something indistinct, and so she stepped closer. “What was that?”

“L-let me GO!”

“If you think we’re going to let a _thief_ like you just run away, you better think again! I have never met someone so rude and ill-mannered and—”

“It’s even worse than you think, young lady.” A villager stepped out from the growing crowd. “You’re wise to keep him still like this, but you better not get too close. We can take over from here.”

“Thank you, sir. I hope you’re going to take him straight home to his parents, so they can teach him some manners!”

The man looked surprised, but finished tying a rope around the struggling boy’s wrists. He looked down at his charge, then back at Katara, and then burst into laughter, “Oh, gracious, no!”

Sokka looked up at the tone in the stranger’s voice. Taking a step forward, Aang carefully wedged his way between the man and his captive. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Lee, the town’s Thatcher. Let me tell you, it’s a pleasure to finally bring this creature to justice. Now if you’ll just…”

Eyes narrowed, Aang bit his tongue, and then asked, “Which type of justice? This town seems to have a few.”

Katara gasped and Sokka’s grip tightened on his boomerang, but the man just chuckled. “Don’t worry, kids. We’ll take care of it.”

“We always take care of it,” a voice shouted from the gathering crowd.

“Burn him!”

“Not yet!”

“Not here!”

“Why not? He got away from it the last time!”

“Burn the witch.”

“Burn him!”

“Clean our village!”

“Burn him!”

“ _STOP!_ ” Leaves swirled through the air, and skittered in a nervous circle around the boy’s feet. Aang’s fists clenched; was _everyone_ in this town utterly insane?

“Don’t be silly, Avatar Aang. That creature is not even human.” Lee chided.

“What are you _talking_ about?”

“He’s a fledgling witch, and witches aren’t nothing but demons wearing a human skin to trick us.”

“Well, if he’s a demon, then as a type of spirit, it means he’s an _Avatar_ responsibility. We are leaving, and we’re taking him with us, and you can’t stop us!”

Aang took a firmer grip of the boy’s arm with one hand, and gabbed his bindings with the other. He was stronger than a lot of people gave him credit for; hanging on to a glider took a lot of muscle work, you know. He didn’t even wait to see if Katara and Sokka were behind him, trusting them to keep the villagers at bay as his rounded the last bend to where Appa patiently waited.

The boy struggled as he was unceremoniously hauled into the air bison’s saddle. “Ahh! Wait! Where are you taking me?! Let me go!”

“Appa, yip yip!”

“Quit screaming, kid. We’re getting you out of this crazy town.”

“Put me down!”

“You’re safe, now. Besides, where do you think you’re going to go?”

Aang swivelled around to drape his feet in the saddle. “I’m sorry, but we had to get out of there quickly. What’s your name?”

Silence.

“I’m Aang.”

“He’s the Avatar, so you don’t have to be frightened. I’m Katara, and this is my brother, Sokka!”

Sokka eased the slim knife between the last few coils of rope, and pulled with a nice, clean cut. He refrained from an older-brotherly pat-on-the-head, but it was difficult, what with the way the boy was shaking. “There ya go. And we can’t just keep calling you ‘kid’, so unless you want an embarrassing nickname, pipe up.”

“Jingshen.”

After a moment, Sokka grabbed the mangled bag of buns from his pack, and passed them out. There was an uneven number, now, but no one mentioned anything when the extra found its way into the boy’s hands.

Jingshen’s voice was strained in the high-altitude wind, but the note of panic had disappeared when he asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“We’re heading to Omashu!”


	4. Chapter 4

The city of Omashu had stood for centuries, its towering sandstone walls sitting above breathtaking views of the canyon below. Its age was also apparent in its name, for the community was founded by the first human Earthbender, Oma, and named after her tragically deceased lover. The city walls had been erected at the end of the war between their two respective villages, signifying a time of peace and prosperity for its inhabitants. This period was stable and lasting until the city’s temporary fall at the hands of the Fire Nation, just shortly before the return of Sozin’s Comet.

All this Aang explained to a very unresponsive Jingshen.

"If King Bumi lets you stay in the city, you should know its history," Aang insisted, "and even if he doesn't, it doesn't hurt to know some of your country’s origin."

Jingshen continued to glare at the sky and said nothing.

Aang sighed. The child hadn't spoken a word since they'd rescued him from that demented village, and he could understand why. Coming to terms with knowing the people you loved have been murdered was a hard thing to do, and the kid would have to deal with it on his own. This was going to be a very rough time for him, especially since it wasn’t likely that Aang would be able to keep an eye out for him. No, as both a nomad by nature and the Avatar by duty, he and the gang would need to leave Omashu sooner or later, and it was better that Jingshen stayed in a stable home environment. Bumi was a great guy, but it was still likely that the kid would feel abandoned all over again. Aang was doing his best to soften the blow in the least personal way possible, but the kid just wouldn’t respond.

They flew over the city walls and headed toward the palace at the centre of the city. As they circled the massive structure they could see a courtyard with brightly clad girl in the centre of a group of warriors, all of them Earthbending. The little girl was winning.

"Who is that?" 

The question came so quietly that at first Aang didn't register it. It was only as Katara was answering that he realized Jingshen had finally spoken. Finally, some interaction!

"That’s our friend, Toph. She's traveled with us before, but decided to stay and train with the militia here in Omashu. Or to train _them_ , rather,” Katara added with a grin.

"Toph..." Jingshen muttered.

"Yeah, ‘cause it sounds like Tough!"

"Sokka!"

“Hey, it’s her joke, I’m just running with it!”

Appa began to descend and the brewing sibling argument was forced to go on the back-burner. It was clear they had been noticed below, because the Earthbending had come to a halt and Toph was running full speed to where King Bumi stood waiting for them to land. With a groan, Appa settled all six feet on the ground.

"Come on," Katara muttered. She prodded Jingshen until the boy slid down Appa's back with a grumble and landed far more gracefully then a first time rider had any right to. One of Bumi's eyebrows rose, but he made no comment. Not that they would have been heard over Toph's delighted squeals anyways.

"Twinkletoes! Katara! Thank goodness you're here! Save me, it’s so boring! Have you got a new adventure for us? Sokka, you know sneaking up doesn't work on me, so don’t bother. How're Zuko and Mai?" She turned her head in Jingshen's direction. "And who's the midget?"

"How would you know I'm short?" Jingshen shot back, having obviously noticed her eyes. "You're blind!"

Aang bit his bottom lip as Toph smiled her charming blind bandit smile, and winced in slight sympathy. But that was sticking your foot in your mouth for you. Jingshen was going to learn the price for badmouthing Toph.

Without warning, Toph took a step forward and slammed her right foot down on the ground, raised both hands in front of her, and dragged both them all towards her centre. As she did this, the earth behind Jingshen erupted and pushed him towards Toph. He stopped mere inches from her smiling face. 

She reached out and patted the boy on the head. "Betcha never seen a blind girl do that before, have ya Midget?" She stomped again and the earth returned to its original state. "You're pretty light on your feet though. You could give Twinkletoes a run for his money."

"He already has!" Sokka said loudly. "He stole our steamed buns at the market this morning. The good, tasty meat buns..." Saliva threatened to start dripping down his chin.

"Then I think we should remedy that,” said Bumi, breaking his silence. He signalled one of his servants. "Please tell Cook that dinner just went from two guests to six."

~~~

“So,” Bumi said, as they all sat down at the table. “Who might your new friend be?”

“This is Jingshen,” Aang replied. “We rescued him from this really… weird village. They insist upon burning people to death because they have ‘witch powers’. They were going to do the same to him, but we stopped them. We were thinking that maybe he could stay here, where it’s safer.”

Bumi frowned and looked rather serious for once. He eyed Jingshen up and down, making the boy shift in his seat and glare. Katara glanced nervously between the two of them, ready to restrain Jingshen if he decided to do anything… eccentric. Aang seemed to have the same thought as Katara, and was giving Jingshen a pointed look. Sokka, however, was wholly and completely distracted by the arrival of dinner and didn’t notice the silent stand-off taking place two feet away from him. As soon as his plate was down, the first thing to disappear was the chicken.

“Witch powers, you say?” Bumi asked quietly.

“Yeah,” interjected Sokka, before Jingshen could even open his mouth. He dove for the buns stuffed with dates and nuts, but continued talking. “I haven’t seen him do anything extraordinary, though, except steal my steamed buns. I still don’t get how you evaded us and ate them at the same time!”

By this point Jingshen looked ready to bring fire down from the heavens and kill them all where they sat. It was clear that he didn’t like the focused attention, but his attitude wasn’t making the situation any better.

“Oh my gosh, Sokka!” Toph gasped. “ _He stole your meat?_ ” 

“I know! It was awful!” Sokka exclaimed, stuffing half a cabbage roll directly in his mouth.

Toph turned in her seat and bowed to the younger boy. “I have a high respect for you, Midget. I am not worthy to be in your presence.”

“Hey!”

Katara and Aang snorted into their respective plates. Sokka glared at the group as he consumed the other half of his cabbage roll and thus cleared his plate. Without a word, Aang passed over his untouched chicken to the carnivore.

“So, any news, Bumi?”

“Actually,” said the King, “there is a matter I would have you know about. As it is believed to be a spiritual matter, Aang, you may wish to investigate. A Northern Water Tribe ambassador died a few days ago.”

“What happened?” asked Katara. “We told the Water Tribe ambassadors to stock up on supplies when beginning the long trek to Omashu.”

“No, my dear, you misunderstand. He was murdered.”

“And you want me to check this out because you think someone from the Fire Nation did this?” asked Aang, slightly confused.

“That’s actually the strange part, Twinkletoes,” Toph commented. “There was no trace of a human anywhere. Trust me. The city militia checked for both Benders and non-Benders, and so did I. No ashes, no scorch marks and the rocks where he was killed hadn’t seen Earthbending since the city was made. That’s what makes us think maybe the spirits are involved.”

“That doesn’t make sense though,” Aang said. “I don’t see why the spirits would be upset with the Water Nation, of all the nations. Plus, even if they were, I’m sure Yue would have said something to me. It was the full moon not to long ago, so her power would have been at its strongest.”

“I’m just saying it’s a possibility,” Toph said with a shrug. “I personally don’t see where to point the finger.”

Aang frowned. There was no proof that a mortal had been involved, but as a fully realized Avatar and the bridge between worlds, he figured the spirits would have said _something_ if they were upset. But what would they be upset about, anyway?

“So, where’s Momo?” Bumi asked, changing the subject. “The most important person is missing from this meal.”

“Momo’s with Appa,” Katara answered, letting go of the subject as well. “He wanted some fresh air, I think.”

“Yeah, that’s something we don’t get flying around on a giant bison,” Sokka said sarcastically, as he reached forward and plucked Jingshen’s untouched chicken from his plate. “You aren’t going to eat this, are you?”

“Give it back!” Jingshen snarled, breaking his long silence.

“Nah. Fair is fair. You stole my meat, I steal yours.” He lifted the chicken to his mouth.

Jingshen’s prone knife shot into the air, wrenching the chicken straight from Sokka’s hand. The knife point sunk into the wall with a dull thud. Sokka had his boomerang out in a second and had the sharp end pointed at Jingshen’s face. 

Katara turned to Jingshen, stunned. “What did you just do?” she whispered.

“His witch powers,” Aang said, slowly regaining his composure. “Sokka, put the boomerang down. Could you do that again?” he asked, turning to the boy.

Jingshen turned and glared at the knife still quivering in the wall but nothing further happened.

“No, I can’t do it now,” the boy muttered.

“Oh no, but you were willing to kill me a minute ago!” Sokka shouted, his boomerang still pointed towards the boy. “What, lost the guts, Witch?”

“Sokka!”

“Katara, you saw it yourself! He threw that knife at me, magically!”

“Sokka, put your boomerang down _now_ ,” Aang ordered. His eyes were slightly brighter than could be accounted for by the lighting of the room. Sokka glared at the fourteen year old for a minute…then surrendered, sitting down as far as possible from Jingshen.

“I’m afraid I cannot permanently shelter this boy,” Bumi cut in at this point. His had attention only for Jingshen now, and there seemed to be a glint of glee in his mad green eyes. “You should know that I couldn’t, Aang.” Bumi’s eyes shifted back to his old friend, and although he frowned, a spark of something was still there. “This boy must be the same age as you when you were just beginning to realise your full potential. He needs to begin to learn his. You must help him do so.”

“Potential for what?” muttered Sokka. “Murder? Now that I think of it, how do we know he isn’t the one who killed the ambassador?”

Toph answered him by causing a slab of earth to come shooting out of the floor and throw Sokka out of his chair.

“Jingshen was still in the village near Xuebeng and you know it,” Katara snapped, completely unsympathetic to her brother. “And before you bother trying to blame another witch, I doubt they’d be trying to get even more unwelcome attention by murdering people.”

“Point taken,” said the fallen warrior, getting stiffly to his feet. “But I still don’t see what potential he could have, if the world wants him dead for what he is.”

“You need to practice your Controlled Jing,” said Bumi. “Controlled Jing is about gaining and maintaining total control. You must focus on accurate movements…”

“We’re going to bed now,” Toph said. She grabbed Katara’s hand and all but ran from the room, the three boys quickly following. 

As they left, the speared chicken fell to the floor with a thunk. Bumi glanced to the hole in the wall and started snorting and laughing. “Well, well… It was about time.”

“Sir?” asked one of his guards.

“This room needed to be redecorated anyways” Bumi continued to snort as he pushed his chair out from beneath him. He glanced in the direction the teenagers had gone.

“Yes… it’s about time.”

~~~

“He’s. Been. IMPOSSIBLE!” Toph basically shrieked when they were safely in their room. “It’s always about Jing! Positive Jing, Negative Jing, Neutral Jing, Controlled, Reverse, Instinctive, Exalted. Jing, Jing, JING! Gah!”

She flopped down onto her bed and sighed. “Please tell me you’re here to rescue me.”

“Maybe in the morning,” Aang said, falling face first onto a bed himself. “Too tired to rescue right now. Avatar tired. Avatar needs sleep.”

Katara smiled softly as she sat in the bed next to Aang’s. “We all should. This has been a rather… energetic day. With sleep we’ll be able to deal with everything tomorrow. We can rescue Toph, investigate the ambassador’s death, and see what we can do for you, Jingshen.”

The boy was back to being a clam and had already cured up on his bed, ignoring the world.

“Doesn’t talk much, does he?” Toph commented.

“I can’t blame him,” Katara sighed. “But again, it can wait till morning. Aang, can you get the candles?”

The answering snore told her the Avatar was down for the count. She sighed and blew them out individually, then stumbled her way back to her bed in the dark.

~~~

Screaming. Someone was screaming.

Aang was awake in an instant. A heartbeat later, and the candle beside his bed was lit. The light showed Katara already stumbling towards the source of the high-pitched keen. It was coming from Jingshen, as the boy twisted and turned in his bed.

“Please! No! NO!”

“Jingshen, wake up.” Katara shook the boy, to no avail. Sokka glanced at Aang, his hair falling over his eyes and holding his club in his sleepwear. Aang was pretty sure he didn’t look too much better himself. Toph was sitting up, one foot resting on the floor, sensing the vibrations coming from it. She shook her head slightly and both boys relaxed at the signal. Jingshen was only in danger from whatever he was dreaming.

“Don’t go this! PLEASE!”

“Jingshen! Wake up!”

“NO!”

Katara called the water from her canteen and brought it down on his face, finally waking him up. He quickly sat up and glanced warily around the room. “What?” he asked quietly.

“Are you okay?” Katara asked softly.

“I’m fine.”

“It didn’t sound fine,” Toph said. “What were you dreaming about?”

“It’s nothing.”

Aang frowned. “It’s about what happened today, isn’t it?”

The boy shot a disgusted look at Aang, then looked away. 

“You don’t know how I feel.”

“Actually, most of us in the room _do_ know how you feel,” Aang said. “We’ve all had someone we loved taken from us by someone who though they were doing the right thing. I lost my mentor, and Katara and Sokka lost their mother. It’s not fair and it’s not right. But it can’t be undone, so you have to learn to live with it and move forward.” He sighed. “I’m not telling you to not to be upset. You have every right to be. But don’t think that we don’t know how you feel. If you need to talk, tell one of us. We can help you through this.”

Jingshen nodded, not meeting Aang’s eyes. Katara lifted her hand and Bent the water off of him and back into the canteen. She then retreated back to her bed. The others were doing the same… except for Sokka, who went and sat down on the end of the boy’s bed.

“Who were they?” Sokka gently asked the boy. There was no need to guess who he was talking about.

Aang thought for sure the Jingshen would stay silent for Sokka, but to his shock, the boy answered:

“Kelian wasn’t my dad, but he looked after me. Yunqi was my sister. She’s three. She _was_ three,” the boy corrected himself. Katara twitched, tempted to go and comfort the boy, but decided against it. If she went over, he might clam up again.

“Were they like you? Did they have…powers?”

“They’re dead!” Jingshen snarled, sitting upright and glaring at Sokka. “They didn’t kill your stupid water… person!”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” Sokka said calmly, still in his quiet, serious tone. He calmly stared at Jingshen until the boy settled.

“They both did, but Yunqi was too young to do anything with it. Kelian and me used to travel a lot, to avoid being caught. But then we found Yunqi, so we stayed in that town for a while. We were going to leave in a few months, but…” Jingshen’s throat seemed to close and he couldn’t get another word out. Sokka sighed.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I jumped to conclusions, while I knew there was no way you could have done anything. And I doubt it was another witch. I can’t see them doing something like that when you guys are trying to just hide.” He sighed, looked like he was about to pat Jingshen’s head, reconsidered, then settled with saying, “Get some sleep.”

Aang waited for Sokka to get into bed so he could put out the candle, he saw Jingshen staring at the light fearfully. As he lay back down, he realized that they all had fire to blame for what had happened to their loved ones. Fire and people who didn’t know how to respect and properly wield it.

~~~

When they all woke the next morning, no one commented on the interruption last night. Instead, they got dressed, Sokka complaining loudly that he needed breakfast. Jingshen agreed that breakfast sounded good and Aang smiled. The kid’s shell was finally beginning to crack.

But they discovered that breakfast was going to have to wait, because sometime during the night an Earth Councillor had been murdered. Again, there was no ash, no scorch marks, and the surrounding earth hadn’t recently been Bent. Nothing to indicate that a mortal could be involved in his death.


	5. Chapter 5

Mid-morning arrived, and the gang found themselves amid a heavy guard, following Bumi to the grisly scene. It was only a short walk from the palace, which in itself was nerve-wracking. This was a well-to-do neighbourhood – large estates, bright lights, and lots of security. The security was even higher, now, around a small street connecting the Palace Road with a byway further down the mountain. Guards investigating the scene hurried over as the King approached, and the gang halted as the spoke in hushed tones a short ways away from the scene itself.

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Bumi delicately remarked, as the captain returned to his investigation.

“We know,” Aang sighed. “But, you know, if we can do anything to help, we want to be here.”

The king turned a mournful eye to the centre of the investigation. “I don’t think _anyone_ can help Lan Tong anymore.”

“Was that his name?” Thankfully there were no strange hats or pipes in sight, but Sokka was clearly keen on the investigation, and was jotting notes on a small pad of paper.

“Woah.” Toph’s face was blank, but her voice sounded slightly strained. “I didn’t think anyone could ever take that guy down.”

“Yes. He was one of my most trusted ministers, even if we didn’t always agree on the same points.”

She muttered, “Does _anyone_ ever agree with you?”

“I can’t see anything,” Jingshen pouted. “Can you see anything? ‘Cause I can’t.”

Aang turned to the boy. “We don’t want to interfere in the investigation, Jingshen. We probably shouldn’t go any closer.” 

“Well, maybe you don’t want to get any closer, but what did we come down here for? I’m bored!”

“A minister died! Don’t be disrespectful.”

“Why should I respect _you?_ ”

The king laughed and snorted. “He _is_ the Avatar, young one. A lot of people seem to think that counts for something.”

“Huh. Well, he doesn’t do much, and he’s not that much older than me! He shouldn’t tell me what to do.”

“He does look pretty good for a hundred-and-fourteen year-old. and he also has a good point: this _is_ a delicate and intimidating investigation, and it’s probably not something you’d like if you saw it.” Bumi frowned. “But the boy has a good point, as well. Since you all came down here, if you really really want to, you might as well take a look. I don’t think you’ll like what you see, but if perhaps you can lend your insight.”

“How could someone like a _murder_?” Katara was aghast.

“Another good point. Yet, I like to think I know better than to shield you all from anything. After all, with all the battlefields you’ve visited, oh, and created, it’d surprise me if you weren’t used to this sort of thing by now.”

Aang opened his mouth to disagree – he didn’t like to see _anything_ hurt or killed if he could help it – but the guard captain returned. “Actually, your highness, we were about to start cleaning up. I appreciate all your…enthusiasm…but it would be best if you were all to stay a greater distance away. If you were to stay.”

“Fine! We know when we’re not wanted!” But with a pleased smile on his face belaying his tone, King Bumi once again began the march up the road to the palace.

Katara turned to make sure that Jingshen was still with the group, and for a flash of an instant, she saw everything. She could not get the image out of her mind: blood sprayed across the stone cobbles, and a twisted corpse, slumped against the tall retaining property wall. And, oh, was that an arm? What was it doing over there? That was his arm!

She wrenched herself away, and after a moment, her feet found the road again. Ooh, and she thought that Ba Sing Se was bad. What was going _on_ here??

~~~

“It had to have been a Waterbender. There’s absolutely nothing else that could cause a cut that big, or that clean!” Sokka was adamant, but his sister was having none of it.

“Are you sure? It could easily just be a large animal. Who knows what kind of strange creatures lurk in these mountains?”

Even Jingshen had an opinion: “Yeah, but an animal couldn’t have caused those crushing wounds the guards were talking about.”

“ _Crushing? What crushing_??”

“You didn’t see the crushing?” Katara asked, incredulous.

“I can’t even _see_ , and I saw the crushing.”

Sokka whirled on the girl, raising his voice. “Well, maybe it was an Earthbender, then!”

“I thought you said it was a Waterbender!”

“Maybe it was both, working together!”

“There’s _no way_ there was an Earthbender. I don’t know if you were aware of what the water in the area was like, Katara, but the Earth there hadn’t been moved since those houses were built. Believe me, I know these kind of things.”

Aang swallowed, and asked, “But if it wasn’t an Earthbender, how come his side was all smooshy? Huge rocks are the only things that can do that which I can think of. Maybe a tree.”

Katara blanched. “Can we _not_ talk about this over lunch?”

They managed a few bites in silence, until Sokka’s curiosity again got the better of him. “This is a classic mystery,” he began. “I know what we need to do next. It might be really difficult to figure this out, but it’s the only way to get solid clues. We need to find out who was the last person to see Minister Lan Tong. If they’re not a suspicious person themselves, well, maybe they’ll have a lead.”

“But how can we possibly find out who the last person he talked to was? It’s not like he’s able to tell us!” 

“That would probably be me.” Bumi chimed, leaning in the doorway. How long had he been here?

“Oh. Wait, what?” Sokka had the classic double-take down pat.

“He was back at the palace late last night,” Bumi continued, “discussing some concerns. He left for his home hours after you kids had gone to bed.”

“ _Back_ at the palace? That sounds almost suspicious. Was it very important?”

Bumi’s eyes flicked to Jingshen, then back to Sokka. “Not really. He is, well, _was_ rather superstitious, and didn’t like a decision I made.”

“So you had a big fight?” Aang bit his lip. Not again… He was supposed to make things better in the places he visited, not cause even more discord!

“I don’t think it was that bad, but he was rather angry. In fact…No, never mind.”

“Oh Bumi, don’t hold back. Tell us what you think.”

“I feel a little guilty,” Bumi admitted. “I’ve thought it over, and there’s nothing I really could have done differently, but Lan Tong was a good friend. I hate to think that the last time I ever saw him would be an argument. I hate to even consider…”

“…What is it?”

“Well, that it might be my fault.”

“What? How could it be your fault??”

“What if I made him so angry that he was distracted, and therefore wasn’t able to defend himself in time?” 

An awkward silence filled the large room. Once again, it took a small Earthbender with a big voice to bring people back to their senses. “Ugh. You’re being ridiculous. You know Lan Tong was so hard-headed that he’d take on anything that opposed him, purely by reflex. You had an argument? So what! That was his usual means of communication!”

“…Like always, Toph, you have a good point. Thank you, dear.”

“Your Majesty.” A man stood at the chamber’s entrance, his stooped shoulders giving away his discomfort at interrupting.

“Yes, Captain?” His voice surprisingly clear as he addressed the newcomer, Bumi looked up from the group. Oh, it was the investigator from that morning. Huh, he really looked different without his hat. 

“It’s only been a few hours, sir, I know, but I wanted to share our conclusions with you before we continue the investigation.”

“Please, come in.”

The Captain looked at the group around the table. “Ah, I was thinking I could schedule a meeting when it was convenient for you. More, hm, private.” 

“Nonsense. I have my knitting group later, but I’m not busy now. Spit it out.”

“They’re _children_ , Your Majesty!” In his outburst of temper the Captain turned to Jingshen, his voice as hard as slate, but his eyes softening with a pleading look. “My _son_ is about your age. You shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of thing.”

“Captain, I understand your attitude all too well, but there isn’t much that this group of warriors hasn’t already seen. Haha, Aang is the Avatar, and you yourself have trained with Toph Bei Fong! Even if you’re not familiar with their friends, a smart man would be able to imagine the kind of things from which _they’ve_ shielded _you_.”

Still looking grim, the Captain released the breath he’d held through his reprimand. “I apologize.”

“Accepted. Now, what do you have for us?”

“Not a lot, but we’ve ruled out a lot of factors. As you probably guessed at the scene, Minister Lan Tong’s death was not an accident. What we don’t know was the motive for his murder, but…”

“Yes?”

“It may be that there’s not a sensible motive to be found. There’s no evidence at the scene of any machinery or animals, even ones capable of Bending. Also, based on the Minister’s wounds, it’s not physically possible that his attacker was human.”

“You’re right, that doesn’t make sense.”

“I’m a man who believes what I see with my own two eyes, You Majesty, but everything we have points to the Spirits.”

“The Spirit World, eh?”

“I’m afraid so, sir.”

“Well, I’ll talk to the head Earth Priests. If they’re able to detect anything suspicious going on, they should be able to perform some cleansing and pacifying ceremonies.”

“It’s already been done, Your Majesty.”

“Superb; you’re doing my job for me, Captain. Please keep up the good work.”

“Sir!” The Captain saluted as he left.

“Spirits…” the king muttered. “That’s interesting. Very interesting, indeed! Well, there’s more than one way to deal with a spirit. Sorry Aang, everyone, but it looks like I’m going to be busier this afternoon than I thought.”

“That’s alright, I understand. But I just have one question.”

“Oh?”

“Bumi, do you really knit?”

“Only on alternate weeks.” He laughed. “Have a fun afternoon, kids!”

~~~~~

With a lot on her mind, after lunch Katara retreated to the sleeping room. The lights had been dimmed in the windowless chamber, and she sat on her pallet and tried to control her breathing, meditating in the traditional Air Nomad method Aang had once shown her. It was difficult to even breathe with her thoughts going in every whish direction, but this wasn’t a good time or place to let her worries get away from her. She was just tired. She would not cry. She would just breathe.

When a soft knock echoed through the large stone room, Katara quickly sat up. The heavy door slowly swung open, framing Aang and her brother in the doorway, the warm afternoon light streaming in behind them. Just the two faces she needed to see, she realized. 

“Come on, Katara,” Sokka said softly, stepping toward her. “We’re going to the lower market, and we’re taking you with us.”

“The market? _Now?_ ” She turned a red-rimmed gaze between the two boys, both of whom seemed completely serious. What were they thinking? At a time like this??

Sokka scrubbed a palm over his forehead. “There’s, well, there’s not really much we can do here to help, and we need supplies if we’re going to head out. We need to find a safe place for Jingshen to hide, and I was thinking about Ba Sing Se. You know how long the trip there takes.”

She frowned. “Right. Fine. That’s probably not a bad idea. Oh, but we’re not taking Jingshen with us today. No way. I don’t want any trouble while we’re at the market, whether it’s his fault or not.”

“Don’t worry, Jingshen fell asleep in one of the sitting rooms an hour ago. Toph’s staying, in case he wakes up.”

“Really? I though she’d jump at the chance to get out of the palace.”

“I think she’s mostly curious about his freaky witch powers,” he shrugged.

“Don’t call Jingshen a freak!”

“But he is a freak! A cute little freak, I guess, and he’s had a lot of bad things happen to him. He still has a lot of fight in him, though, that’s for sure.” He paused, gathering his breath as he came to his final decision. “He’s the kind of freak who would do really well at home, back at the South Pole.”

“I’m glad he has your _approval_ , but if you call him that to his face and get him all riled up, well, I’m _not_ helping you.”

“Well, I’m kind of glad Toph volunteered to stay behind with him,” Aang quickly diffused the topic. “You know how Sokka is when he’s shopping. It’ll almost be like we have the afternoon to ourselves.”

“I can _hear_ you, you know!”

“And did I say anything that’s wrong?” Aang smiled sweetly.

“Hrmph. Anyway,” he continued as his friends hid their laughter, “here’s our shopping list…”

~~~~~

The market was as crowded as ever, but it was clear that the city’s gossip mills were still in business. The hawker’s cries rose above the hushed tones of the stall’s patrons, and young children were clutched close. Narrowed eyes shifted over the three teenagers until they registered Aang’s iconic blue arrow; while the shoulders of some people relaxed, knowing that the Avatar was present in their home, others tensed further at the sight. The whispering grew.

“Did you hear?”

“It’s _him_...”

“…pieces _everywhere_.”

“…gruesome…”

“Only a spirit could have done something like that! No normal person would have the ability!”

“Don’t be silly; there are no spirits in Omashu. At least, none that could cut like a Waterbender _and_ crush like an Earthbender – and without either water _or_ earth!”

“Well, if _you’re_ so smart, what did it then?”

“…horrible…”

“Is anyone safe?”

“I’d thought it was just foreigners, now. First it was that couple from the north, and then the Water Tribe ambassador. But now Minister Lan Tong? He was practically family!”

“Wait, you mean this has happened before?”

“Didn’t you hear?”

“Did you hear…”

Aang turned to Katara, and commented, “Everyone is so scared.”

“We saw it ourselves. It is pretty creepy.” 

“I wonder if the rumours are right, and the spirits are involved. But how could I have missed them?”

“You can’t believe rumours,” Sokka brushed off the voices around them, and continued picking through the packets of dried fruit. “That’s why they’re called rumours. If they were true, then they’d be called, well, truth or something.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Why don’t you two try and find a sleeping pack and a water skin for Jingshen? He’s gonna need something, and I’m not gonna let him steal any more of my stuff. Anyway, I’m going to try to talk that vendor down on the price of his cowpig jerky, and he seems like a tough nut to crack.”

Aang and Katara wandered away from the area of the market devoted to food, as Sokka’s voice began to climb above the saturating murmur of city rumours and gossip. The clothing district wasn’t much better, but finally the whispers began to subside when the market stalls began to stock more items related to the Earth Kingdom homes. They linked arms, lingering by the fresh scent of woven baskets and looming stacks of reed mats. While Aang took a moment to admire a new type of oil lamp – one lit just as easily by either Firebender or spark-rocks – Katara was cornered by an industrious salesman who _insisted_ that his brand new, never been seen before device would make scrubbing the old, dried-on rice from the bottom of a pot as easy as shifting grains of sand. She escaped without having to purchase any – even though they were on special today, just for her! – and without having to demonstrate how her Bending skills made both the vendor and his product completely unnecessary. Still, Katara wasn’t impressed by Aang’s continuing laughter on the subject, despite the fact that he was usually the one scrubbing the cooking pots these days.

They stopped to consider a stall full of sleeping rolls in deep greens and rich earth tones. The material seemed lightweight and warm, which Aang thought would be perfect for Jingshen, but Katara didn’t think they’d last long out of doors. There were other stalls, though, just down the row, which looked promising. A stack of sleeping packs right at the corner of a connecting aisle yielded the best results, and Katara tore into the offerings with a fervour usually only seen while shopping with her brother.

Consequently, they were in the perfect position to hear the conversation between the merchant and his neighbour. “It’s obvious that the spirits are upset with Omashu,” the balding man began, catching the attention of everyone in range.

The owner of the next stall, a shorter man with strong arms, loudly responded to such a bold statement. “What? Why?”

“I’m _sure_ I don’t know, but…”

“Yes??”

“My neighbour’s uncle was involved with the clean-up…you know, _Minister Lan Tong_.”

“Ohhhhh.”

Katara nearly jumped out of her skin when Aang brushed up against her arm, but they both stood silently, now consciously eavesdropping.

“And apparently they’ve decided that his death wasn’t normal.”

“Well, he _was_ murdered!”

“But it was just like that new Water Tribe ambassador, last week! He said that both of them looked like they’d fallen from _way_ up, and then been chopped to pieces! …Or was that the other way around?”

“That doesn’t sound like a regular murder.”

“That’s what I’m saying! The spirits are angry with Omashu, and they’re taking it out on the city officials, themselves!”

“My younger brother works in one of the minister’s offices. I should make sure he quits his job right away!”

“Really? What does he do?”

“Oh, he files things. We’re very proud of him…”

~~~~~~

“You’ll never believe what we heard in the market today!” Katara exclaimed, unloading an armful of new survival gear on a convenient chair. “People are convinced that anything and everything bad that’s happening is to be blamed on the Spirit World!”

“No one’s seen a spirit around, though, so I guess it’s still just a rumour?” Aang’s voice rose with a note of uncertainty. “What do you think, Sokka? You’re the expert on rumours.”

“I don’t know why you’d say something like that.”

Katara sighed. “Well, Mister Non-Expert, what did _you_ overhear down in the marketplace?”

“It sounds like these creepy killings have been happening all over the place.” He stopped abruptly, and swayed in place for a moment while his tongue attempted to catch up to his thoughts. “It’s the same! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier!”

“Wait, Sokka, you’ve lost me. What didn’t you think of earlier?”

“It’s not just Omashu - these have been happening _all over the world_. Katara, did you read the letter I got from Dad the other day?”

“Not yet. It was addressed to _you_.”

“You know that Dad…”

“Yeah, sure, anyway, what was your point?”

“Well, there were the usual updates about rebuilding the town, but Dad also mentioned a weird story… before we heard about all these other deaths, I never thought that these might be connected!”

“Well? Don’t keep us waiting! What happened?”

“Dad’s friend was out hunting with his nephew, but when they got back to camp, it was…strange. The was no one to welcome them, not smoke rising from cooking fires, no polar-dogs barking a warning – just the wind. He didn’t even believe it was their camp, at first, but it wasn’t a mirage brought on by the sun on the ice. Their village was empty. The tents creaked like old bones, and everything had been left out like people were in then middle of work and meals when they just…disappeared.

“The two men carried their hunt through the campsite. They couldn’t bring themselves to speak above a whisper, because it was if the wind itself would steal their voices away. Slowly, slowly, they picked their way to the centre of the village, where the elders’ tent lay. And then they could smell the blood.

“It was as if a leopard-whale had come up on land, and decided that the elders were far better prey than penguins or fish. They were such old men and women, and there were just…pieces of them, everywhere.

“Dad’s friend didn’t stay long, after he saw that. He grabbed his nephew, and they went back out onto the ice flats. They almost didn’t make it to the next hunting village – it was only because they had the meat from their hunt bundled with them that they survived the storms and the long nights.”

“Woah. That’s a really creepy story, Sokka.”

“You should totally have told this one, when we had that contest on the way through the Earth Kingdom. That was much better than the one about food that eats people.”

Sokka sputtered, “It’s not a story, _it’s true!_ It turned out that the rest of the village had run off in the other direction, so when Dad’s friend met up with them again, they sent word home to warn them. It’s all in Dad’s last letter – here, I’ll get it for you!”

Toph’s hand on his arm prevented Sokka from fervently dragging out the contents of his pack. “It’s okay, we believe you. It just sounds kind of exaggerated, compared to what we’ve seen here. I mean, a whole village!”

“You know, Toph,” Katara commented, “Out on the ice, the villages are pretty small. They’re not like Earth Kingdom towns at all. Our home was actually the largest in the Southern Water Tribe, because before the war it was, what would you call it…”

“The capitol,” Sokka supplied.

“Yeah, something like that. Anyway, there are only a couple dozen people in each hunting village, and less since the warriors went away to the war. If something so violent happened to the elders, then everyone would have known about it.”

“Although it is weird that the women didn’t leave a marker telling the hunters where they had gone.”

“But if it was a monster or an evil spirit that attacked the village,” Aang queried, “then wouldn’t they have been worried that it would have followed them?”

“That’s a good question. Who would have thought that a spirit could read a note, or a monster could decipher orientation marks?”

“Well, why not?”

They lapsed into thoughtful silence, until Toph cleared her throat. “Well, this certainly gives us something to think about, but we don’t even know if your dad’s story is—”

“ _It’s real_!”

“If it’s _connected_ to what’s going on here.”

Aang stood and stretched. “Well, other than being incredibly creepy, I don’t think we know enough about solving murder mysteries. I can tell Bumi about your dad’s story, Sokka. Would that be good?”

“I guess so.”

“I really don’t know what else we can do.”

“Then I guess tomorrow we have a good breakfast, and then we should be on our way. I hope we don’t run into any trouble like this in Ba Sing Se.”

Toph groaned. “We _always_ run into trouble in Ba Sing Se!”


	6. Chapter 6

Despite the fact that she couldn’t see the landscape, both through her eyes and her feet, Toph secretly loved flying on Appa. The wind in her hair (and between her toes if she could position herself right), the fresh air, and the feel of the sun… she would never admit to anyone that she liked flying almost half as much as she liked Earthbending. However, flying did have a couple of its own drawbacks.

“Hold it.”

“I can’t wait!” Jingshen wiggled under the older boy’s stern gaze.

“You can see the outer walls already. We’ll be at Ba Sing Se in twenty minutes!”

“Um, more like forty-five, Sokka…”

Aang’s declaration was met with the even patience that comes from frequent correction. “Forty-five, then.”

“AUGH!”

Toph flinched. “Can we just land for a minute? I don’t want the Midget exploding.”

“Fine, then! A ten minute potty-break!” Sokka’s lips looked pinched, “But no wild adventures!”

At this, even Katara cracked a smile. “Sokka, how often do you come across an adventure while squatting behind a tree?”

“You’d be surprised. And we’re men, we don’t squat!”

“Thanks for the information. I didn’t need to know.”

After a short discussion of where to land –they were passing over the place where Sokka, Toph and Suki had battled the Fire Nation air ships, and Aang wished to land far from any rubble. However, after much debate and the many shrieks of “I don’t care you guys, ANY tree will do!” Appa made a swift descent into the trees and landed beside a small creek. Jingshen wasted no time in sprinting off on his business, leaving the other four to stretch their legs and pass the time.

However, watching Aang and Momo play catch with an oddly spherical pinecone was only amusing for so long. Sokka yawned, tilted his head to the side with a loud crack, and asked, “How far did the kid even go? He’s been out there long enough.”

Toph gestured toward the gloom of the woods. “He’s just over there, lighten up.”

“We’re not girls! It doesn’t take that long to go! I’m going to get him.”

“Wait a sec,” said Toph, throwing her arm out to stop him

“What is it?”

“There’s something strange over to the south.”

“Something strange? Like what? Is it—”

“Shhh!”

She started walking, her footsteps quick and precise. Katara shot a look at Aang, who shrugged. Sokka, suddenly wide awake, followed the girls. If there was something weird out there, he was certainly going to find out if it was either edible or badass. Or maybe some combination of the two. 

The trees grew denser, their shadows turning the rocky soil into a myriad of textures. Toph turned her head back and forth, listening for something. Katara hugged her arms to her chest, and followed the younger girl’s example. 

There was… _something_ out there. The woods were eerily quiet. Sokka eased his boomerang out of its sheath, hoping for dinner, and not something a little more carnivorous. A rabbitdillo would be nice, or a peacockaloupe, but let’s face it, those kinds of animals certainly weren’t _strange_. He would have liked a _little_ adventure, despite what he’d told Jingshen.

“There it is, right there!”

And there it was, sticking straight out of the earth like a lightning-struck sapling.

“I _knew_ it felt familiar!” Toph cried.

Wait, what? That wasn’t a slavering, ferocious beast. It looked more like a black handle, sticking out of a stupid rock. Why would a rock have a handle? And why did the handle look so…familiar?

“Oh, no way,” he whispered.

Totally badass.

Toph stomped her feet, and the rock parted. This seemed oddly familiar, or was this just the surreal fairy-tale quality of their situation? It’s true, their mother used to tell old Earth Kingdom stories at bedtime, when he and Katara were tired of all the old tribal tales. Wasn’t the very first Earth King of Ba Sing Se said to have pulled a sword from solid stone? 

Sokka lovingly scooped up Space Sword, so engrossed that he couldn’t even hear what the girls were saying. His eyes only left the blade when Toph thumped him in the shoulder, and they carefully retraced their steps.

“Where _were_ you guys?” Jingshen demanded, as they returned to the clearing. Sitting beside him, Aang rolled his eyes, but bit his tongue as the boy continued his complaints, “I was only gone for a minute, but you all disappeared! You left me alone with _him!_ ” 

Jingshen had a really girly little shriek when he was surprised. To be fair, Sokka kept the sword carefully out of the way as he engulfed the young boy in an enthusiastic and completely unexpected hug. “I love your crazy little witch powers!”

“And my completely superior Earthbending techniques.”

“What is WRONG with you!?”

Sokka let go of the struggling boy, and examined the length of the black blade once again. “And your completely awe-worthy and inspiring Earthbending techniques. You found Space Sword!”

“Yep. I am amazing.”

“Awesome, Sokka!” Aang exclaimed, running his hand along the flat of the blade. “I thought your Space Sword was gone forever! How did the blade not break from falling from that far up?”

“Space Metal is really sturdy stuff,” Toph answered. “Not to mention the ground that Space Sword landed in is a very soft rock called talc. Like sticking a diamond into a one of Sokka’s meat bun.”

“This is pure awesomeness!” Sokka whispered, rubbing his cheek on the pommel. No one could blame him for the joy he was expressing. He had put a lot of work into forging that sword, and no blade that he had tried afterwards had been the same to him. It was like Sokka had been given back his long-lost child.

“As great as this is, Sokka, we should get going again,” said Aang, hating to interrupt this moment. “We have to get to the city before dark.”

“Do we have to?” asked Jingshen for the hundredth time. “I don’t wanna live in Ba Sing Se.”

“Then were would you live?” asked Katara. “A big city will be good cover for you. If your emotions get out of control, any mishap can be explained away on another excuse instead of on you.”

“Yeah, but…”

“No, Jingshen. This isn’t for forever, you know,” said Aang. “This is just until things settle down, then I plan on coming back and helping you find your potential, like Bumi said.”

Jingshen nodded, clearly relieved, but still disappointed.

~~~

The Great City of Ba Sing Se had not been their favourite trip in the past, on their quest to defeat Fire Lord Ozai. They had met roadblock after roadblock, from the Dai Li’s imprisonment of Appa, to fighting Zuko and Azula in the crystal caverns far below the city proper. Luckily, the Dai Li were no longer headed by the treacherous Long Feng, and Azula now resided in a country estate out of harm’s way, finding plots among her servants instead of instigating plots among nations. In this time of peace, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, but _still_ , it was _Ba Sing Se_. It was a large city, and you never entirely knew what to expect.

As they began to descend, Jingshen leaned over the edge of the saddle to gaze at the metropolis below. As they flew over the houses, he sighed. He was going to be left here, he just knew it. He just wanted to go back home, even though there was no home to go back to. Every morning, in the small space between awake and asleep, he thought that the quiet morning noises around him were Kelian, or sometimes little Yunqi. It made him so angry; just this morning he imagined the hand on his shoulder was Kelian gently shaking him awake. When it turned out to be Aang, he just wanted to lash out at the older boy, and make him feel how much his actions _hurt_.

Thank goodness he no longer woke the others up screaming from his dreams, but the nightmares were still there. It was his fault that the others had died. He was supposed to _protect_ Yunqi – she was only three years old! – but when the flames licked their way up the walls of their home, he had let Kelian hoist him out the high kitchen window into the cool, cool pre-dawn air. Why hadn’t he gone back for her? His sister should have come first. He was such a coward.

Jingshen had escaped just in time, but escape hadn’t stopped him from hearing his sister’s tiny voice screaming his name, as the uneven glass of their windows shattered in the heat. He should have gone back to help them. He should have gone back. Instead he’d run away from the inferno, away from the roaring crowd of villagers, away into the darkness of the early morning. The rest of that day had gone by in a whirlwind; he couldn’t remember half of it, and he really didn’t know where he’d been, until all of a sudden there was the sky. Nothing had constrained him but blue, from horizon to horizon, and when he came back to himself he had found…well, not friends, not exactly, but they were kind people. Strangely enough, they didn’t even seem to _care_ that he was a witch.

As Jingshen’s mind raced, Appa landed in front of the Earth King’s palace, and an official ran up to them. Interested nobles and soldiers began to crowd around the Avatar’s bison, and Jingshen swallowed nervously. He was certain these people wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if they knew what he was, even with the Avatar on his side.

“Avatar Aang, you come in a good hour,” said the official, bowing low. Aang slipped off Appa gracefully, his airstaff in his hand.

“A good hour?”

“It _is_ close to lunchtime isn’t it?” whispered Sokka. Toph smacked him.

“Yes Avatar. Please, come this way.”

Aang stared after the man for a minute, then shrugged and gestured for the others to follow him. There were whispers everywhere, too quiet for him to make out, but whatever they were, they were making Toph frown. Jingshen walked beside Toph. As motherly and caring as Katara was and as easygoing as Sokka was, Toph was the easiest to deal with. She didn’t coddle him or attempt to pump up his testosterone. She just let him be himself.

As they were led further and further away from the palace, the crowd and the whispers became louder and more numerous. Toph was also getting more and more aggravated, though this could only be told by how tensely she was holding herself. No earth had yet gone flying.

The group spoke not a word as they made their way further away to the edge of the Upper Ring. Jingshen noticed a gate far down a street to his left, and past the portal were some shabbier looking houses and shops, but their group seemed to be staying in the richer part of town. In fact, wow, that front garden alone must cost more than the whole house that Kelian had built, as well as all their possessions they’d had inside. Jingshen glowered at the six-foot fountain and its benches. Not to mention its rare and carefully-shaped moon-peach trees, and he got quiet satisfaction as he watched Momo steal as many of the precious fruit as possible. 

They grew closer and closer to their obvious destination, and the crowd around them continued to swell. Sokka suddenly stopped, craning his neck to see above the crowd, and Jingshen nearly ran into him 

The older boy turned, scowling, to look down at Jingshen. “Wait here,” he commanded.

“Why?” asked Jingshen irritably. “I want lunch, too! You guys drag me around the Earth Kingdom and I can’t even—”

“This isn’t what you think it is,” Sokka interrupted seriously. Jingshen blinked. Sokka wasn’t serious unless he had to be. Not to mention the older boy was looking rather pale. He also kept shifting with Jingshen to permanently block his view. “I want you to go wait with Katara by Appa.”

“Can’t I wait with Toph?”

“No Jingshen,” Katara said, walking over. She looked ready to be sick. “Aang is going to need both Toph and Sokka for this. We’re going to keep Appa company.”

Katara firmly grabbed Jingshen and steered him away. But she didn’t move quickly enough. Sokka turned at this point to join Aang and Jingshen turned his head back to see what he was missing.

And he saw the severed hand lying in a pool of blood.

~~~

As Katara and Jingshen walked away, Toph felt a small jump and a quickened heartbeat from the boy. She sighed and followed Aang and Sokka around the perimeter of where the body lay. That kid was going to have more nightmares now that he’d seen the body. Midget should have listened to Sokka instead of trying to see what his elders had obviously thought wasn’t a good thing for him to see. Toph could understand Sokka’s reasoning.

Based upon the vibrations she was feeling, there were several… limbs thrown in various directions, if you could call them limbs anymore. All of them had been torn apart and scattered. The body fared little better, leaving it almost unrecognizable, if Toph was to believe the whispers behind her. Maybe it was because she was blind, and didn’t _see_ like the others did, but how could you mistake a human for anything but a human, destroyed or not. Or were they talking about recognizing them as someone they knew, rather than as recognizing them as a person altogether? This was making her head hurt.

The earth surrounding the body was soaked in blood, slowly drying in the sun. She could smell the body, which by the compactness of the earth must have been there since just past midnight. She felt Sokka move in for a closer look. One of the men who had escorted them made a move to stop him, but Aang shot the man a look and he quickly backed down. People always underestimated how much she could tell from slight body movement.

“Toph?” Sokka asked.

“He’s been here since before dawn,” she answered. “The earth hasn’t been Bent around this one either. And there’s no trace of his attacker anywhere. Not even dust. It’s just like in Omashu.”

“It’s the Spirits,” called an older woman from the back of the crowd. “The Spirits are upset! The Avatar must find out how we have upset them!”

The crowd began to mutter in agreement, and Toph grinded her teeth. If they began repeating what they were muttering on their way here…

“Please, people of Ba-Sing-Se!” Aang called. “As the Avatar, I can’t be sure I agree with that. The Spirits would have told me if they were upset…”

“Unless they are upset with _you_ ,” piped up an old geezer, close by.

“Yeah, which is why they won’t talk to you!”

“It’s the Avatar’s fault!”

“The Avatar is letting the Spirits kill us!”

And the lemur was out of the bag. 

Sokka stood up and began shouting the crowd down, but none of them were willing to listen to reason anymore. In fact, they had begun to close the circle around them. Toph snarled and slammed her foot down, causing the earth to shake. The crowd screamed, then silenced as they saw the Earthbender wanted their attention.

“Enough! Aang isn’t letting anything kill anyone! You seriously think he’s just watching whoever or whatever kill these people without batting an eyelash? You guys must have wool for brains if you seriously think that. Aang is doing everything possible to stop this… person… thing… And he needs you to lay off! Now get out of here! I’m sure you have better things to do besides staring at a crime scene!”

“If the Avatar cared…”

That guy never got to finish his sentence. Toph shrieked and slammed her foot down, sending the guy flying into the nearest garden and out of sight. The crowd got the hint at this point and quickly dispersed, leaving Aang, Toph and Sokka alone with their escort and the body.

“The citizens of Ba-Sing-Se have been restless for quite a while,” their escort said into the silence. “Not that _I_ am of the opinion, but many believe that this is a Spiritual Imbalance, especially since the ones who have been murdered have been outside of their home Nation.” He turned to Aang and bowed. “With all due respect, Avatar, I hope you can solve this quickly.”

“So do I,” Aang muttered. He knelt down beside the body. “You said he was once one of the Royal Guards of the Fire Nation Palace?”

“Yes, but he had been serving here for the past few months, with the Earth King. It was…a diplomatic move.”

“Zuko isn’t going to be happy about this,” Toph said from the sidelines. She had assessed what she could. “Do you think we should tell him?”

“No,” Sokka answered. “He’ll be happier if we showed up with all the answers. He’s got enough on his plate.” Sokka stood up. “I’ve learned all I can. Aang, unless there’s something you need from him, I think its time that this guy was put to rest.” 

Aang nodded. “I’m going to see what I can make of this. Tell anyone who asks I’m also considering a Spiritual Imbalance.”

“Twinkletoes…”

“I can’t say it’s not a Spiritual Imbalance just because someone else suggested it before I did. In the end, if it _did_ turn out to be one, I’d feel pretty stupid, and more lives would have been lost.”

Aang turned and began to walk in the direction from which they’d originally come. Sokka and Toph followed.

“Do you actually believe it’s an Imbalance, Aang?” Sokka asked doubtfully. He’d never been one to fully believe in the Spirit World, even after being to it. He had been unable to encompass the idea of a place where the base rules of this world, such as lack of transformation, not being able to fly, and not being able to walk through things upon will, didn’t apply.

Aang frowned.

“No, I don’t.”

Sokka sighed and patted Space Sword, and Toph could literally feel his glee at finding the sword radiating off of him. She also knew exactly what was about to happen when his stomach gave an audible rumble.

“Well, if you’re going to be doing your Avatar-spritual-likadysplit, I want some food. I’m starving after that flight, and we missed lunch.”


	7. Chapter 7

“I don’t think I particularly like the idea of a spirit going around and randomly killing people.” Sokka commented.

That afternoon, the gang had retreated back across the Upper Ring to their guest home. After the generous arrival of palace-made refreshments, Aang had been called into a short conference with an old friend, the grand Earth King Kuei, which left the rest of the teenagers to their own devices. Katara and Sokka chose to wait for Aang to return, although it was difficult to convince Jingshen that this was not yet the time to go out and explore the immense maze of the city – especially when Toph herself decided that she would go and follow up with her previous students in the Royal Guard. If she felt that they were showing any weakness in form when some kind of terrifying killer was on the loose in their city, then she, by herself, would kick them into shape.

Literally.

It was clear that everyone was tense. Of course, who wouldn’t be, when for the past few weeks it seemed like they were trailing just minutes behind a chain of gruesome murders? Sitting there, around the low tea-table in the main room, they could not help but wonder when they were actually going to step into the scene of the next grisly death. Even small talk degenerated into theories and speculation about the crimes.

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother’s frankness. “Remember, we’re just assuming it’s a spirit going around. We’ve learned the hard way to not trust everything anybody says.”

“It doesn’t sound like any kind of spirit story I’ve ever heard, but there’s probably a lot more out there than I know.” Jingshen shrugged. 

“Even the best criminal slips up eventually, but with these killings there’s not even evidence that there’s been someone _there_! Well, other than the dead person, of course.”

“Spirits aren’t usually that subtle, either. Well, at least the spirits we’ve all met!” Aang laughed from the doorway. He closed the door behind him against the brilliant afternoon light, and made himself comfortable at the table with his friends. “Oh, by the way, I saw Arvik up at the palace. It looks like he’s become the head ambassador to the Earth Kingdom! I think the job really suits him.”

Katara and Sokka visibly perked up at the news. Arvik was from the Northern Water Tribe – in fact, he was Chief Arnook’s little brother – and in the wake of Sozin’s Comet he had done a lot of diplomatic work to restore and repair relationships and communication between his home and the rest of the world. The gang had run into him on multiple occasions over the past two years, and they agreed that no debts lay between them. If they were asked, the group would surely say that the smiling man was almost as much of a family figure to them now as Teo’s father, or maybe even Uncle Iroh.

“Really?” Katara was positively glowing. “How long has he been in the city?”

Aang laughed. “A couple of months, already! He wants us to head over to his place this evening. He’ll even have some sea prunes for you two. Have you ever tried sea prunes, Jingshen?”

Sokka was clearly pleased at this announcement, but Jingshen looked completely bewildered. “What, prunes? Wait, no, back up. You totally changed the subject. You said you guys have met a spirit, before, and that’s how you know they’re not subtle? I’ve never met a spirit. What _are_ they like?”

“Um. Okay. Some are pretty cool,” Aang began. “I’m great friends with this one forest spirit, Hei Bai…”

Sokka groaned, “Oh, we’re not expositing the great qualities of Hei Bai again! That guy was totally a grouch.”

“You’ve met him, too??”

“Yeah, and he didn’t bother finding out who was causing the problems in his forest before taking it out on me. _Not cool_!”

Aang sighed. “Okay, so we’ll have to agree to disagree about Hei Bai. What about the Moon Spirit?”

“ _What about Yue_?” Sokka’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, she lives in the Spirit World, now, and she’s technically the moon spirit. You guys seemed like you were good friends when we were at the North Pole.”

“Aang, Yue’s d—” 

“No, Sokka, I’ve _seen_ her in the Spirit World.”

Jingshen began to look sceptical. “You can’t go to the Spirit World.”

“You can! Regular people can only go there at certain times, or under special circumstances. Sokka’s been there! And I’m the Avatar, you know, the ‘bridge between worlds’? It requires a lot of concentration, but I can go there if I need to.”

The younger boy wrinkled his nose in thought. “Sometimes…”

The other three leaned in close, anticipating a rare story about witchcraft. “Yeah?”

“Sometimes I think you’re even creepier than I am, Aang.”

~~~

Toph returned shortly thereafter, looking slightly scuffed, but none the worse for the wear. Normally she’d be beaming from the results of a good workout, but her satisfaction today was tempered with information gleaned from both the city guards and from the street itself. “Well, Aang, I have good news and bad news.”

“Good news,” he decided. “I can really use some good news.”

“No one else has died.”

“That’s it? That’s your good news?” Sokka asked.

“It _is_ good news. The Fire Nation lieutenant was really popular among the Fire Nation citizens still living here. Oh, and especially among the Firebenders still serving here. They’re all really upset, and that’s making the rest of the people in the city nervous.”

“I’m glad nothing violent has happened yet.”

“Well, that’s the thing. The reason nothing’s happened yet is because both groups are blaming _you_.”

“ME? What did I do?”

“It’s more about what you haven’t done, or at least that’s their opinion.” She continued, “People are dying when they’re away from their home nation, Aang. Earthbenders in the Fire Nation, Firebenders in the Earth Kingdoms, and Waterbenders wherever they go. People think there’s some sort of Spiritual Imbalance, and they want _you_ to take care of it.”

“I could hear the capitals on those last words.”

“That’s what they’re calling it.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s true, but they think it’s because you’re not doing your job properly. The world is trying to balance itself out for you, by killing people who are not where they belong.”

“That’s horrible!”

“And I think it’s hooey. But you might want to be careful when you go out into public.”

“It is silly,” Jingshen asserted. “People have been trying to kill me for years, and I go wherever I want to.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never left the Earth Kingdom.”

“But I’m a witch! I don’t belong _anywhere_. Yet here I am, and for once I’m not actually in danger. I feel like I can travel wherever I feel like.”

Jingshen continued with a tale about the places he’d been to and how his guardian, Kelian, always got him out of trouble at the last minute. At the end, everyone was laughing but one, and Jingshen turned around at the silence. Toph remained standing behind – he would have said that she was giving him a weird look if he didn’t know that idea was patently ridiculous.

“What?” he drew out the word.

“You know, kid, if you weren’t so hilarious, I’d get awfully suspicious of some of your stories.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hmm. How do I say this without you throwing some spectacularly large fit?”

“You sound like you’re going to accuse him of something.” Katara commented, her brow furrowed.

“Well, in a way, I guess. Jingshen, you’ve always seemed kind of familiar to me, and I think I’ve figured it out.” Toph snapped her fingers, a smile ghosting across her face. “You’re not a witch at all!”

“Seriously?” the boy questioned. A dark cloud passed across his face, and it felt like the air immediately around the group dropped in temperature. “You think I’m _lying_ to you?”

“Well, not exactly—” 

“So I’ve been lying all my life, so I never had a home to live in. So I’ve been lying so I can have people throw _rocks_ at me wherever I go. So I’ve been lying to all of you that Kelian and Yunqi were burned alive like _meat_ , because he took the time to save _ME!_ ”

“Hey, did I _say_ all that stuff? Calm down.”

“Calm DOWN?” he screamed.

“Yeah.” Toph’s voice was even calmer in the face of the boy’s anger. “You’re not a witch, doofus. You’re an Airbender.”

The building storm died around them, and sun shone in the calm pocket surrounding the girl.

“…what?”

“What??” Sokka looked like someone had hit him.

“What, Toph, are you feeling okay?” Aang spoke up. “That’s completely not possible. And besides, I would know!”

~~~~

The five stood outside yet another grand door, as polished, pressed, and powdered as if they were dining with King Kuei and all his court. Well, as much as they would be if they were invited guests, and not trying to infiltrate a fancy party – the Earth King had donned his heavy robes with great relish upon his return to the city, but he accepted the gang as the people they were beneath the frippery, the friends he had grown to know over the past couple of years.

Arvik was different, though. Oh, it wasn’t that they _needed_ to dress up for a simple meal with their friend, but it had been a while since their last meeting, and they all subconsciously felt that this was a special occasion. A nice and neat occasion. Particularly since the last meeting between them had ended in such a liberal coating of mud, that even with their bending skills, they were finding streaks of dirt behind their ears for days after the event.

Toph was recounting this tale to the newest member with great glee, as their hired carriage carried them up to an unfamiliar residence. This was more than a modest house, even for the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se: as Head Ambassador between two nations, it seemed that Arvik was pretty high on the bureaucratic lodging scale. His house was gorgeous. It was only a single storey, but the roofs were high and pitched in an elegant steep curve. Two small fountains framed the main entrance, their cool waters flowing back down the path to a deep pool that complemented the crisp shapes of the traditional rock garden.

Sokka rapped sharply on the wooden doors. Although most houses at this social level had massive doors of sombre slate and fancy phyllite, the ambassador’s home boasted wooden doors engraved with his tribe and family crests. An unusual luxury.

The group waited for minute, and then another.

Sokka knocked again. “That’s weird. I thought you said this was the right time, Aang?”

“It is.” Aang looked worried. “He said to come to his house around, well, right now, and he’d cook up something for dinner, Water Tribe-style.”

“Well, this is definitely the right house.” Sokka nodded at the decorations, and jiggled the door handle. The tall wooden panels swung inwards, silent on their hinges.

The air reeked of blood. 

Katara uttered a small cry, throwing herself through the doorframe, while the rest of the group paused outside in their shock, before following her voice through the rooms of the grand apartment.

“Arvik? Oh no, Arvik, where are you?” They finally caught up to her, and Sokka held her shoulders in a loose embrace as she trembled. “There’s so much blood. This couldn’t have been an accident, could it?”

Aang surveyed the smashed furniture, and the sprays of sticky red across the walls. “No…I think we’ve found whatever’s been killing people.”

“ _Arvik!_ ” Sokka called.

“Guys, shut up!” Toph hissed.

They fell silent, knowing to trust the Earthbender’s ears. Aang swivelled, using his Airbending to _reach_ …

And then he could make it out. It wasn’t quite like anything he’d ever heard before, unless you count the time that Sokka had snared a couple of fox-squirrels in the woods, but that sound had been so small… Still, Aang could barely make out where the dripping and squelching noises were coming from.

“Toph,” he whispered. “Can you tell which room it’s from?”

“Um,” she hesitated, the colour having completely drained from her face. “This house is mostly wood, but there’s some weird movement in the room down the hall. I can’t tell what it is!”

“Hurry! It’s still in there!” They rushed to the room, following the horrible noise. It stopped, and they heard a soft click right before they opened the door.

The room was empty of any attacker or monster, but Arvik lay to the side, clearly beyond anyone’s help. It was hard to tell through the blood, but the very mess itself made it clear that he had given his killer a fight to the end. 

Arvik’s back was bent at an unnatural angle from an impact from behind, and his chest completely collapsed from being buffeted by such force from the front. Aang had no idea what kind of creature, either spiritual or natural, could possibly have such size and strength to literally crush such a strong man. But clearly, it was one with claws.

Really, it might be more appropriate to call them talons or, well, something that could describe the size and depth of the rips and gouges along Arvik’s body. No wonder there was so much blood. Sure, there were a few animals that could cause these wounds, but none that would have reasons to…and none that could easily sneak around in the middle of the city! Besides, there wasn’t really any way anything with claws this large would have the ability to manoeuvre in the room to get enough force to crush bones in such a way.

And then it hit him. Later Aang would wonder what had taken the realisation so long to arrive. This was _Arvik_.

Aang reeled back, horror quickly sinking beneath his skin.

He looked around, frantic. Toph stood, braced in the doorway, her face and stance grim. She supported Katara, who still trembled, but seemed unable to look away from what remained of their friend. He heard retching from down the hallway; either Sokka or Jingshen. He hoped they were with one another. 

~~~

He had to do something.

Despite what everyone said, Aang hadn’t truly believed that the Spirit World was involved in these murders. It was more than intuition, although that was the best word he could think of to describe it without using sound effects. When something in the Spirit World was agitated, it was like peripheral vision without using his eyes, or a touch that you felt even if it didn’t connect. He didn’t like talking about it, but over the past couple of years, Aang had noticed that spirits had a hard time hiding from him, especially if there was something he could do to mend their situation. Spirits didn’t haunt him; it was the other way around.

It was clear that something was seriously amiss if _everyone else_ could sense a disturbance in the Spirit World. If things were truly as Unbalanced as people said, then it was Aang’s duty to see what he could do. More than that; whatever was causing enough discord to go around _killing_ people was now getting personal. 

Arvik was his friend. No one should have to go through that kind of pain. Aang had to help him – no, he couldn’t help him. Not anymore. Once again, he was too late.

He could stop this from happening again. He could do his job, and fix the rift between his two worlds.

There had to be something he could do.

Back at the groups little townhouse, he unfolded one of the famous Ba Sing Se duvets, and placed himself right in the centre. He had no idea how long this was going to take. Aang crossed his legs, settling himself just-so, closed his eyes, and concentrated on his breathing. Calmly. Slowly. With purpose. He activated his link to the Avatar Spirit, and all his past lives.

Aang felt the familiar slip, like the ground falling away from you when you fall asleep. It wasn’t like Airbending, but he nearly laughed with its comfortable loss of power.

His eyes refocused on the landscape of the Spirit World. Maybe an artist would be able to properly appreciate it, but Aang was always a little thrown off by the abrupt visual change. The textures of the world around him were so rich and luxurious, he could almost taste them, but the colours seemed oddly drained, and the edges weren’t always where they should be.

He climbed to his feet. Yep, it was time to do his job and find out what all this spiritual balance was about…

~~~

“He’s back!”

Everyone clustered around the doorway, anxious for an answer. Aang stepped from the room, groggily rubbing at his eyes. “Hey, do you think I could get a cup of water?”

“Less snacking, more yakking. What happened in the Spirit World?”

“Well, um…”

“ _Yes?_ ”

“Everything seemed fine, actually. I met some new people, and visited some old friends, and, well, no one really had any answers. They all had _something_ they wanted to talk about,” he assured them. “But none of it really had to do with this big Spiritual Imbalance everyone is talking about. No one knew anything about the murders, either.”

“So we’re back where we started: with nothing.”

“Maybe.” Katara sounded doubtful.

“Maybe what?”

“Well, maybe the fact that the Spirit World held no answers is an answer in itself.”

“Oh, please, explain.”

“Because we wanted to check out the Spiritual Imbalance, Aang went to the Spirit World, right?”

“Right. But he got no answers.”

“Exactly! There were no answers in the Spirit World, so maybe the Spiritual Imbalance isn’t strong enough to carry over. Maybe the Imbalance doesn’t even have anything to do with the murders!”

“Maybe there’s nothing wrong!”

“No.” Aang looked troubled at Katara’s explanation. “There’s definitely something wrong. Otherwise people wouldn’t be _dead_.”

“…Good point.”

~~~

“Hey, Aang?”

It was difficult to make out the bags under the Airbender’s eyes in the low evening light, but the stress he felt was evident in his voice. “Hey. What’s up?”

Jingshen gingerly sat on the edge of the roof, a careful body-length away from the older boy. “I was thinking…”

“Mm-hm?”

“What if we’re wrong?”

“Wrong? About what?”

“They think I’m an Airbender,” he stated, flatly.

“Yeah, I heard.”

“What do you think?”

Aang hesitated. “At first I thought Toph was crazy…”

“I thought so.” Jingshen tucked his knees up to his chest. “ I don’t Airbend! That’s kind of an important part of being an Airbender.”

“I just want to give something a try. Will you play along? This’ll just take a minute.”

“Okay…” Jingshen seemed dubious.

“Hold your hands, one palm over the other, like this,” Aang explained, demonstrating. “Good. Now, kind of twist them, like you’ve got a large ball in your hands.”

“What am I supposed to be doing?”

“Nothing happened?” He lapsed into silence for a moment. “Maybe… Well, I’ve been overlooking really obvious things lately. A _lot_ of things. What am I forgetting?”

Jingshen only snorted in reply.

A look of determination crossed Aang’s face. “No. Let’s try this again. Put your hands out, but this time, um, when you twist your arms, concentrate on what it feels like when you use your witch powers.”

“You want me to get angry?”

“Are you always angry when you use your powers?”

At this remark, Jingshen’s eyes took on an odd look. He bit his lip, and twisted his arms, but all was silent except for the slight breeze ruffling through his bangs.

Aang jumped to his feet. “You did it! This is incredible!”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“No, seriously, I could tell! You’re not very strong, but you redirected a current of air that _shouldn’t have been there_. Toph was _right! _”__

__“What…what does this _mean_?”_ _

__“It means there are Airbenders… Maybe there always _were_ Airbenders, this entire time!”_ _

__“But the Fire Nation killed the Airbenders! I can’t be an Airbender! I’m from the Earth Kingdom!”_ _

__“Well, maybe your grandparents were Airbenders, and they hid in the Earth Kingdom. Or maybe that’s why we travel around so much – to look for Airbenders that are born in other nations!”_ _

__They settled down again, looking at the sky while lost in their own thoughts. The world had been turned upside-down for both boys; despite their excitement, there was a lot that each of them had to consider._ _

__“Hey, Aang?” Jingshen again broke the silence._ _

__“Yeah?”_ _

__“If all those people are wrong about me being a witch, then couldn’t they be wrong about an Imbalance? Maybe there’s no such thing. Maybe none of this is your fault.”_ _


	8. Chapter 8

Another person from the Earth Kingdom was killed sometime during the night. Only Toph and Aang went to look over the body this time. When they returned, Sokka was slightly shocked to see Aang looking so dejected. He hadn’t seen that look on the younger boy’s face in a long time.

“Anything?” he asked, although he knew the answer.

“Whoever it was has finally been slightly clumsy. We have half a fingerprint in blood. They’re human.”

“How can a human been tearing those people apart like that?” asked Katara, looking slightly pale. 

“Those people were innocent… and Arvik and that Fire Lieutenant were trained in defence for goodness sakes! How has the killer been able to not leave a trace until now?”

“They’re a witch,” Jingshen answered.

Everyone looked at him doubtfully and Jingshen scowled.

“Don’t look at me like that. They have to have the same powers as me. They aren’t leaving anything to trace.”

“Not even you can do damage without leaving _some_ evidence behind,” Sokka snarled, clearly in a dark mood. In response, Jingshen grabbed a small stone from the ground with his powers and sent it flying towards a rat that was scurrying across the garden. The rock hit it solid in the head, killing it.

“Jingshen, that was uncalled for!” Katara chided him.

“Was it?” Jingshen responded, calling the rock away from the dead rat. “Where’s the evidence that _I_ killed it?”

“We just saw you kill it.”

“Besides that!”

Hm. Sokka narrowed his eyes, frowning in concentration. Maybe the kid had something here. But no, that would mean—

Toph stepped forward, her footsteps small and tense. “There’s no evidence of your Bending,” she said slowly. “The only thing I felt was the rat.”

“Exactly!” Jingshen exclaimed.

“It was obvious it wasn’t being done by Earth from the start,” Toph continued, “because in every place they were being killed, the ground hadn’t held the feeling of Earthbending for a long time.”

Katara’s eyes flashed with sudden understanding. “It was clear that it wasn’t Waterbending, because nothing was ever damp. Even in Arvik’s apartment, we were just a few minutes too late…but I could _tell_ there was no Waterbending going on while we were there.”

“And Firebending leaves scorch marks,” Sokka finished. “So it was eliminated right from the start.”

“We never thought to look for Airbending. The answer was sitting in front of us the whole time.” Aang buried his head in his hands. “Why didn’t I see it? Sokka even _suggested_ it when we were having dinner at Bumi’s. He accused Jingshen of possibly killing the Ambassador, then Katara said she doubted ‘they’d be trying to get even more unwelcome attention by murdering people’.”

“Looks like she was wrong on that point,” Sokka muttered. Katara shot him a betrayed look, which he quickly fended off. “I’m not saying you’re on their side! I’m just saying you were wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter who was wrong when,” Toph cut in before an all-out sibling brawl could commence. “The point is we now know who did it. Sort of. We just need to figure out who they’re going to go after next, and then we can set a trap.”

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Sokka said sarcastically. “Let me just activate my telepathic abilities! Hear me, freaky Airbending witch! Who shall be your next victim? I would love to know so I can stop you!”

“Sokka, would you just stop talking for once in your life?!” Katara snapped. “Your stupid sarcasm isn’t helping!”

“And you constantly snapping at Sokka is calming him down _so well_ , Katara,” Toph sneered.

“Enough!” Aang exploded, before Katara decided to tackle either Toph or her brother. “You guys are worse than trying to put the Three Nations back together! Something goes wrong, and you’re always at each other’s throats. If anyone, I would have expected this kind of thing out of Zuko, not you guys!”

“You’re saying that my temper is as bad as Zuko’s?” Katara asked dangerously.

“Yes, I am! For goodness’ sake, Katara, you’re from the Water Tribe! You’re supposed to be about going with the flow and rolling with the punches. Healing, and motherly smothering! And Toph! You’re supposed to be firm in your thoughts, but not sarcastically so. Just because you have a firm idea in your mind doesn’t mean to bury everyone else in it. And if they don’t agree with you, don’t go shaking their foundation! They’re brother and sister for crying out loud! Like I said, this is more a Zuko, Fire Nation thing! Getting all heated and straight out lashing at each other…”

“Oh, oh, that’s it!” 

Sokka jumped to his feet and began shaking Aang, not from anger, but from a sudden revelation. “Aang that’s it! That’s where they’ll go next!”

Everyone stopped dead.

“Huh?”

“The first person to die that we knew about was a Northern Water Tribe Ambassador. The second was Bumi’s advisor. Earth. Then they killed the Fire Nation Lieutenant. Then they killed Arvik. And then a potential heir for an Earth Kingdom throne! Not to mention the three civilian deaths we thought we unrelated. They’re going in the Cycle! Water, Earth, Fire!”

“And they just killed Earth,” said a pale Katara. “Which means they’re going after someone from the Fire Nation next.”

Toph frowned. “Who in the Fire Nation though? We can’t just cut off the Fire Nation from the rest of the world. The killer may already be there and we’d be wasting our time trying to stop people from entering.”

“We have to be missing something…” Sokka muttered.

“The killer’s already going in a pattern,” Aang said, plucking himself free from Sokka’s grip. 

“Then there has to be something in the pattern we’re missing. But what?”

Toph’s pale green eyes widened.

“We need to get to the Fire Nation. NOW.”

“But you just finished saying we don’t know…”

“I DO know! We gotta run!”

The group abandoned the garden and ran to the front courtyard where Appa had been lounging. The group scrambled on and quickly took to the sky.

“We’re so stupid! How did we not see it before? They started with civilians, raised themselves to advisors, then soldiers, then nobility! What comes after nobility?”

Sokka’s breath hitched in his throat.

“Royalty.”

He’d never enjoyed watching his sisters face dawn in horror.

“Fire Nation Royalty. Oh gods, they’re after Zuko.”

~~~

It was dusk by the time they reached the main island of the Fire Nation, despite starting out just after breakfast. They hadn't dared stop for food on their journey, but even Sokka hadn't opened his mouth to suggest it. They were all too focussed on getting to Zuko in time.

They skipped all protocol and landed in the front palace courtyard, then ignored the shocked and startled guards to run straight into the palace, screaming Zuko's name. It was about suppertime so Aang slipped past the audience chamber all together, and headed straight to the private rooms that Zuko and Mai shared. He heard the others panting behind him, and could only hope that this time, _this_ time he wouldn’t be too late…

It hurt him to think it, but the thought skittered through his mind without permission. Not only was Zuko a close and dear friend, but his death would be devastating to the world as a whole. It was the last thing they needed when the world was starting to put itself back together again.

Aang burst through the main doors and a heartbeat later had to dodge Zuko’s fire attack.

" _Aang?_ " Zuko asked, clearly surprised. Then he frowned, shifting out of his defensive stance in front of his wife. "Can I ask what the hell you’re doing, barging into my rooms? I nearly killed you!"

By this point the rest of the crew had caught up and Katara was already hugging a slightly shocked Mai. Jingshen studied the room, scowling, and Toph and Sokka wandered over to Zuko.

"Glad to see you’re alive and talking," Toph smirked.

"And Mrs. Fire Lord," said Sokka, bowing in Mai's direction. "How are you doing on this pleasant evening?"

"I was fine until the Avatar came running into my quarters.” Mai drawled, returning to her usual demeanour with a snap. “Now it seems like either Ty Lee is after his affections again, or something else is wrong." She crossed her arms. "Which one is it?"

"Um... Well..."

Toph had flopped down on an overly-regal chair while Aang was gathering his thoughts. "Stop beating around the bush, Twinkletoes, and tell them the story. By the way, is Iroh here? I'd love to see him."

Aang swallowed hard. He'd never considered Iroh as the target, and now that he was thinking about it, Mai now officially royalty as well. There were so many people who could be the possible target, not just Zuko.

"He's just making some tea," Zuko said he replied, just as Iroh walked in with a tea tray. The older man stared at the group for a moment, then turned to one of the waiting servants.

"It seems that I miscalculated how many guests we were having this evening. Would you mind going to get five more teacups, if you would be so kind?” The servant bowed and hurried off. Iroh placed the tea set onto the table and turned to his nephew. "You should have informed me, Lord Zuko, to grab more cups when I went to get the tea! And you hid the fact that my dear friend Toph was coming as well? I must admit though I am not saddened in the least to see you all here, was the Avatar truly needed for tonight’s discussion?"

"Aang and the others weren't planned, Uncle. They just...showed up."

"I thought you hadn't announced it yet?"

"Announced what?" Sokka asked at the same time as Zuko hissed "Shut up!" 

Iroh blinked. "Oops."

"Nice job, old man,” Zuko muttered as the servant returned with the teacups. 

"Guess the catadillo's out of the bag,” said Mai with a sigh. She sat forward to pour the tea as the servant placed the new cups on the table. Aang saw out of the corner of his eye that Zuko was struggling not to say something as she poured it. "Though I would have liked to have waited till the second trimester."

Jingshen was clearly confused on the meaning of a ‘trimester’, but he was the only one. Katara and Aang both screamed, "You're pregnant?!" while Toph bit her bottom lip. 

Sokka was point-blank horrified. "Who else knows?" he asked tensely.

The bright flare of joy died instantly.

"What's got you so panicked, Sokka? You still haven't told us why you all ran in here like there's a crazy axe-murderer after you."

The recently arrived group winced.

"Not after _us_ , Zuko," Toph said. "You. Or Uncle Iroh. Or now, depending on how many people know the news, Mai."

Zuko blinked, and for the first time since he had become Fire Lord, he felt unsettled. "Why would they be after Mai?"

"How many people know you’re pregnant?" repeated Sokka.

"The doctor, obviously. The servants have to be informed of my 'fragile state' in case something happened to me. As well as my maids. And the seamstress."

"The seamstress?" Aang asked, blankly. There were more people privy to the information than he’d hoped. Too many people; this past week had proven just how quickly gossip could spread.

Mai’s inflection was unchanged. "The amount of squealing she made when she found out she was going to be making me maternity wear was disgusting."

"So if the servants know, that means it’s at least a rumour to the rest of the nation," Sokka said in defeat. "So you're most likely his target."

"The target of what, exactly?" asked Mai. "And just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I can't defend myself, despite what _some_ people think."

"We were coming to defend the Fire Lord, and _he_ isn't pregnant, is he?" shot in Jingshen. Mai blinked at the boy.

"This killer isn't normal," Sokka explained. "This guy doesn't kill by normal means, either. He kills with Airbending."

Zuko, Mai and Iroh all shot Aang an alarmed look. Aang turned to Sokka. "Thanks, Sokka. I always wanted the Fire Lord, his wife, and his 'Dragon of the West' Uncle to think I wanted them dead."

"It isn't Aang. It's a witch. We don't know much more than that." Sokka then proceeded to tell them all the information they'd accumulated over the days.

"They could also be after Ozai." Zuko said when they'd finished. "He was the Fire Lord for a long time, so they could have a particular reason to hate him.”

"And my dear Mai could be the next target because she's carrying the child who may become the next Fire Lord," ended Iroh. He rested his hand on Mai's shoulder and she smiled at him before sighing:

"I really was hoping the first assassination attempt would wait a couple more years."

~~~

Three days later and everything seemed as normal as ever. Ozai’s guard had been tripled, but the lack of other action had the prisoner suggesting several unhelpful comments, such as using Mai as bait. Aang was beginning to stress. Their killer should have made a move by now, and the silence was driving him around the bend. They had made it no secret where Zuko and Mai were at all times, and Ozai was in his cell as always. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it would be safer for everyone to just hide them away from the danger, rather than just confront the killer head-on. After all, even after raising the personal and palace defences, wasn’t he still essentially using his friends as bait?

Dusk of the third day found Aang pacing back and forth in Zuko’s study, brow furrowed and ready to jump down everyone’s throat. Nothing was happening. The palace guards continued their rounds as usual. There was no word from Toph about any attempts on the prison’s security. So what were they missing?

Aang turned back, aware that if he made a hole in the rug from pacing, Mai just might kill him. The pattern they discovered was correct: Water, Earth, Fire… and the killer was on at least his third pass through the Elemental line up, increasing the victim’s rank every time. It began with civilians, rising up to advisors, to soldiers, to minor nobility. Sticking to the pattern, their killer was going to go for royalty now. What was taking their killer so long from making his appearance? Everyone that he could possibly target was here, in one spot. What was missing from their plan?

Aang turned again, then staggered to a halt.

Oh… OH!


	9. Chapter 9

Zuko and Aang had fought, very briefly, over the benefits and drawbacks of simply landing Appa in Azula’s country house’s central courtyard. Despite the time crunch the group was facing, they finally bowed to Zuko’s insistence to walk the last bit of distance due to the simple fact that the simple, single-story dwelling was also home to an elite unit of Firebending guardsmen, and he didn’t trust the receptions they would give if they _didn’t_ use the front door.

They could see the estate from the air, and Sokka described the basic layout to Toph as Aang guided their descent. There were three main wings to the building, their straight halls managing to circle one another with the irregular collection of rooms and terraces. One large courtyard dominated the centre of the complex, completely surrounded by the building, yet containing a sizeable pond, rock garden, and small orchard amid the rest of the flowers and greenery. Other elaborate gardens designated the chief living areas for the imperial family and guests, whereas more the precise plots of the kitchen gardens lay beside the smaller service wing of the house. The structure was constructed primarily of wood, and to Toph’s delight, Zuko informed them that the foundations of the estate were formed from pure stone.

As they began the short walk to the front gate, Appa following close behind them, they noticed how different the structure was from the island beach house they had visited a few years before. The affluence and privilege of the owners was apparent to any viewer, but the decoration was minimal and understated. The aesthetics of the estate drew more from the natural curvature of the landscape, and lush vegetation surrounded the buildings. Reaching the main gate itself, Aang noticed how the roof itself created a natural frame for the volcanic skyline in the distance behind the manor.

Zuko spoke quietly with the guard at the gate while the rest of the group admired and analyzed the grounds for beauty and defense. They were led into the main foyer, all cool marble and basalt columns, and Zuko’s footsteps slowed to a halt.

Jingshen spoke up, “Why are we stopping here?” 

“I, um,” Zuko paused, taking a deep breath. He didn’t look up at their faces, but muttered, “I haven’t been here in a while. Perhaps you guys should wait here for a minute.”

“What, you don’t think there’s going to be any trouble, do you?” Katara asked, brushing invisible dust from her skirts.

“No. Well.” He shrugged. “It depends what kind of mood she’s in, really.”

Mai sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Zuko, I’m going to go to my rooms. After what your sister said last time, I don’t really feel like talking to her.”

Aang perked up in curiosity. “Why? What did Azula say to you last time?”

“It’s not important,” Mai deadpanned, but Zuko looked like he’d bitten into something bitter. 

“Go on, you look like you could use a bit of rest. The rest of you, wait for me here.”

Two of the guards departed with Mai, who under lesser circumstances might have hit Zuko for suggesting she looked like she needed “a bit of rest”, but the rest remained at attention at the entrance to the hall. Under supervision, servants brought in chairs and a pretty dark-skinned woman offered drinks to the group. With a smile and a nod that could have been considered flirtatious if not for the obvious age difference, the woman brought a small bag of dried cherries for Jingshen from out of her sleeve. He said nothing, but the look on his face when he popped one in his mouth was obviously enough for the servant. As Sokka and Toph continued to revise their defense strategies and Jingshen fed cherries to Momo, Katara oddly enough felt herself start to relax. She sat beside Aang, his hand covering hers, the people she loved most were close enough for her to protect, and they were surrounded by kind and trustworthy people. Sure, this wasn’t a great situation, but they’d be able to deal with it. 

After a few minutes, the door creaked open once again, and Zuko returned. “Sorry that took so long.”

“Everything’s okay?”

“Yeah.”

“But…?” Toph pressed.

“But it’s hard to talk to her these days. I mean, it was never exactly easy before, but it’s just different now.” He scrubbed one hand through his bangs in an old nervous habit. “It’s just…you’ll see. We’re having dinner together tonight.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “You say that like you think dinner is a _bad_ thing.”

“Well, it was _her_ idea.”

~~~

Talk died down as two figures stepped into the dining hall, side by side: a tall man with military uniform and sharp eyes, and a well-dressed young lady with a crisp top-knot. Azula. Her cool gaze crossed the table. She scowled as she noticed Aang in his new Avatar clothes, but the soldier accompanying her laid a hand on her shoulder, just for a moment, and she took her seat without a word.

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Zuko’s manner was practically regal as the officer salute and left, but his eyes remained on his sister. Mai’s spine was stiffer than usual, and even Katara sat tightly clutching the arms of her chair. Huh. There must be a girl thing he was missing. Aang didn’t see why people were getting so tense all of a sudden; weren’t they all friends on the same side, now? Well, they’d have a nice dinner, and then he’d work out the tension while everyone worked on battle plans.

“So. Interesting seeing all of you here,” Azula commented lightly as the soup course was served.

“I’ll bet,” Toph quipped. Oh, hey, Toph was a little tense, too. Weird.

“No, it’s very interesting,” Azula continued, but paused, as if considering. “For one thing, I could have sworn you said you were never going to bother speaking to me again, _Mai_.”

“You remember _that_ , at least.”

“Of course I do. It was rather rude, you know, and apparently completely untrue.”

Zuko sighed. “Azula, _please_.”

“Don’t try to act so grown up all of a sudden, _Zuzu_!” his sister suddenly spat. “Everyone knows you’re just pretending you know what you’re doing!”

“Quit trying to pick a fight, Azula! This is totally not what we need right now!” 

“And where is Uncle? You _never_ seem to come here without him,” she abruptly changed the subject. 

Zuko kept his gaze wary, however; even now, it wasn’t like his sister to just give in to his requests. “Uncle stayed in the capitol, this time. We have reason to believe that someone is trying to kill a member of our family, so we formed two groups for safety.

“A buddy system,” Sokka interjected.

“So Uncle is babysitting Father. What a joke. And here you are, thinking you’re babysitting me.”

“People who may be targets, and people I can trust, all together in one place.”

“Well, that explains the ‘love the world’ squad, there, but I still don’t know why you had to bring the traitor bitch. This is supposed to be _my_ home. I don’t want her here.”

“We talked about this last time,” he replied, slowly and sadly. “Mai is my wife now. My _wife_. And she’s going to be the mother of my child. I need her to stay close right now – I need to _see_ that she’s safe. She’s as important to me as you are, Azula.” 

“But it’s just one little murderer. You’re still all upset about those assassination attempts?” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, wait, I forgot. You can manage entire nations, but it’s single opponents you can’t handle.”

“Hey, hey!” Sokka jumped to his feet before Zuko could reply, startling the servant passing out the main course. “Zuko, shut up. Azula, your brother has a stupidly short fuse on his temper, but he does have a point. We really need your cooperation, no, your _help_ to take down this murderer. We need everyone to help out for _everyone’s_ sake!”

“Why would I help that whore?” Azula said, staring straight at Mai. Her chair clattered to the floor, smoking slightly, and she walked right out the door.

They ate the rest of their meal in silence.

~~~

That night was one of strategy. The royal guards conferred with the guards for the summer home, and in turn both groups met to compare ideas with Sokka’s original plan. Toph had a few cracks to make about the years-old secret backup underground escape plan, but after a few hours, everything was set.

They set up traps. Pitfalls, snares, physical things. They knew that the enemy had some kind of creepy spirit power, but since Aang confirmed they weren’t directly affiliated with the Spirit World, they just had to cross their fingers and hope that some of their precautions did some good.

Sokka passed copies of a map around the table. “Okay, so it’s nothing high-tech, but I don’t want anyone going outside without a copy of this. We don’t exactly have the time or resources to pull any rescue operations.”

“I still think these could be improved with, well, some firepower,” the Lieutenant of the guard protested.

“And we already went over why we can’t have benders involved with these. The first, no the second thing you learn on a hunt is to let your prey disable themselves. If we have Firebenders popping up everywhere, it would just alert this jerk. We could use you and your men more on the defensive side.”

The Lieutenant grumbled, but Sokka just sighed, and continued, “I just wish we had more Earthbenders. You’re fantastic, Toph, but we still don’t really know who we’re dealing with. We can’t predict what angle they’ll come from.”

Zuko put down his map and steepled his fingers. “But like you were saying, the first rule of hunting is to lay low, out of sight. Since we’re focusing on defense, we don’t want too many people running around, doing who knows what.”

“True. We’ve always worked better as a smaller group, too.”

“What about the servants?” Katara asked. “We should give them copies of this, too, so they can protect themselves.”

“Actually, I’ve ordered all the servants either to go home or to bunk down, and that started immediately after dinner. Sorry to say, but the vacation is over.”

“Ahh, so we’re back to roughing it.” Toph leaned into the plush back of her chair. “I don’t know how we’ll manage, Sparky, with no one to paint our nails for us.”

“Well, on that note, I think it’s time for bed. Are we going to stay up in the same shifts you mentioned earlier, Sokka?”

“Now wait a minute,” the Lieutenant interrupted. “You kids have done enough for the night. Can’t you let the top guards of the nation do their own job?”

“It’s not that we don’t trust your abilities, sir, it’s just…”

“We’re used to taking care of ourselves.” Zuko said dryly.

“It would feel weird if we didn’t play a part in this.”

“I…suppose I see where you’re coming from, but from _my_ point of view, it already feels weird to let such important charges do _this_ much. I’ll talk to my men, and let them know that you’ll be part of the shifts, but,” he stood, rolling up his map of the grounds, “you are all staying _inside_ , where we can still keep an eye on you!”

“Last string of defense, gotcha.”

“Well, have a good night, guys.”

“Like anyone’s going to get any sleep.”

~~~

Jingshen woke when Sokka returned, crankily muttering as he fell into bed. The boy dressed in the dim morning light filtering through the curtains, and slipped out the door as the older boy started snoring.

His feet scuffed along the smooth floor, and he followed the ebbs and curls of breeze tumbling their way down the hall. The dark wood paneling the corridor was warm to the touch, and light footsteps up ahead rang like wooden chimes.

“Good morning, Jingshen.” Katara blinked, surprised at the boy’s sudden appearance. “What are you doing up so early?”

He wrinkled his nose. “Your brother is annoying.”

“Oh, you have no idea!” Katara’s laughter was muffled by the heavy hanging tapestry, but it was still possible that she might wake others nearby. In high spirits, she continued, “I mean, there was this one morning when—”

“Hey,” he interrupted, pausing at a sliding door, “we can’t go _outside_ the house, but can we cut through the courtyard, d’you think?”

“Um, I don’t know. Why?”

“It’s so stuffy in here! I can barely breathe.” Jingshen glanced up and down the corridor and he saw a young servant girl just passing by the end he had just come from. “Hey”, he called in a stage whisper. “Girl. You there!” The girl stopped and glanced back at them, not looking entirely too pleased at being halted.

“Yes?” she asked in what was supposed to be a polite voice, but was clearly a cover for her annoyance. 

“Sorry, I’m sure you’re busy with something”, Katara said soothingly, “but we were wondering, can we cut through the courtyard through that sliding door back there? Nothing important is going on is there? I know Azula likes to train and all…”

“My lady’s friends may go where they wish”, answered the servant girl, bowing. “There is nothing that would be interrupted should you choose to use the door. My lady Azula keeps a late schedule these days.”

“What’s your name?” asked Katara, noting the girls darker skin tone. “You don’t look like you’re Fire Nation.”

“I was born in the Fire Nation, but my parents were from the Northern Water Tribe”, said the girl, bowing again. “My name is Qilal.”

“It’s nice to meet you Qilal”, Katara smiled, and became aware of Jingshen’s impatience for his fresh air. “My name is Katara and I’m from the Southern Water Tribe. It’s nice to meet someone from the Water Tribe here in the Fire Nation.”

Qilal finally cracked her first smile. “The pleasure is mine. If you will excuse me, I have some things I must attend to. My Lady Azula is a busy lady, and as such, so am I.” She bowed again and walked away.

“That was nice”, said Jingshen. “Can we go _outside_ now? It’ll give us a shortcut to breakfast too!”

Katara slid open the door, and they stepped into the fresh air. The sun was just rising over the eves of the courtyard, dripping light on shoulder-high bushes covered with red and gold trumpets. The garden was larger than they had thought, with a long, meandering path making its way along and across a small creek. Jingshen, of course, impatiently skipped over the moving water, but Katara thought she caught a glimpse of golden shadows and bright scales in the moving water. They turned around the final bend in the path, and found they were not the only people enjoying the morning air.

Hair unbound and shoeless, a young girl was sitting by the flowers. Her face was turned away, but the morning sun played across her temples. Katara paused, not wanting to intrude on the girl’s quiet space, but Jingshen crashed on ahead.

“Good morning!” he called.

The girl turned, “What are you doing here?” The voice was oddly familiar.

“I’m sorry, we just wanted to get some fresh air before breakfast—” 

“It’s a nice morning.”

Oh. OH, it was hard to recognize her without her makeup or her violent little smirk, but this was Azula. Katara noted the servant dressed hidden behind Azula, but it was no cause for alarm. It was clear they were supposed to stay out of Azula’s sight, but not out of everyone else’s. But what to say to the not mentally stable Princess? Katara coughed. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

“What…why…I mean…”

“…Yes?”

“I mean what do you think you’re going to do, all of you, here?”

“We’re going to protect everyone who needs it. We’re going to catch the murderer, to bring justice and balance.”

“You’re so stupid.”

“What? No! We have to do what we can, and I have a feeling we’re going to be just fine!”

“Mmm. That’s why you’re so dumb. You’re…this way…You’re not approaching things in the right way.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t want to talk to you any more. You’re giving me a headache.”

“Come on, Katara.” Jingshen tugged impatiently at her arm. “Being dumb is fine. I’ve been worse. Let’s just get breakfast, okay?”

As they exited the yard through yet another sliding door, Jingshen called back over his shoulder, “Azula?” He ignored Katara’s attempts to shush him, “Would you like us to bring you anything?”

“No.”

“Okay!”

And Katara still had no idea what to say. What a way to start the morning.

~~~

Aang entered what they had recently dubbed the “command room”, and immediately winced at the frustrated tones of the voices surrounding him. Zuko and Azula stood over by the window, their conversation probably louder than they intended. 

“—you know, that thing! …You know what I mean!”

“Um. Have you taken your medicine today?”

“Of course, I took it this morning. I think. I _wish_ you’d stop asking.”

“Hey,” Aang interrupted, and Azula’s glare swung over to land on _him_. Yikes, if that was one thing he hadn’t missed… “Sokka’s finished setting up, and the guards are in their final position. It’s time to go.”

“You’re really going to let them boss you around?” her voice was incredulous.

“Yes. Azula, we want to protect you, and Sokka has come up with some of the best plans I’ve heard. Ever. We’re going to do this.”

She said nothing in reply; just gave her brother a sideways look that couldn’t quite be classified as a sneer.

~~~

The Fire Lord entered his private study, completely ignoring the whirl and bustle of guards around him. Documents, maps, schematics, diagrams, pure paper littered every available surface. A chair was quickly vacated, however, and Zuko took advantage of the formal gesture to finally rest his feet. It had already been an agonizingly long day, and it was looking to be an even longer night. He couldn’t hold back a sigh at the thought of the painful wait ahead.

“What’s wrong?” Sokka glanced up from the charts spread across the table. “Is it something to do with the plan? ‘Cause I’ve gone over—”

Zuko slouched further into his seat. “Honestly? Despite all of the mystery and all of the danger going on, I’m just not used to Azula _listening_ to me. It feels…”

“Creepy?”

“Weird. Just weird.”

Sokka stepped out from behind the table, and laid a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “This is going to work.”

“I know.” It better, his tone conveyed. It better.


	10. Chapter 10

Morning dawned with a slight over cast that burnt away quickly in the rising heat, a clear indication it was going to be a hot day. All anyone wanted to do was laze about that day, and as Jinshen could do very little to help, he was the only one who could. As he went explore the inner depths of Azula’s courtyard and hide in the shade, Sokka sat down in the shade by the side of the house and continued talking to Azula’s lieutenant of the guard. 

Azula was looking none too pleased with the world, and despite what air Aang fanned to keep her cool, it was not cooling her temper in the slightest. Katara was trying to distract her as well by playing a game of Pai Sho, which Azula was having difficulties concentrating on, and it was not improving her mood.

“And you’ve done background checks on every one you’ve…” Sokka quelled under Azula’s glare. “I mean, Azula, has hired?”

“Yes sir.” As one of Azula’s cronies, he had a healthy dislike for anyone who wasn’t Fire Nation and held power, but his loyalty to his Fire Lord and his devotion to Azula was enough that he put his dislike aside. 

For the moment, anyways.

“And there was nothing? For any of them?”

“One of my lady’s former servants whom belonged to a Lady named Ty-Lee had an issue with the guards over stealing food from the stalls, but this halted when she was hired as Lady Ty-Lee’s food taster.”

Sokka blinked. “So nothing? Not even one of the new guys? What about servants not born in the Fire Nation?” Another glance in Azula’s direction showed him there was literally steam beginning to pour out of the older girl’s ears, and Sokka wasn’t sure the girl was going to explode or give over to a tantrum. Either way, Katara was eyeing the creek incase she suddenly was going to need water.

“There are only two girls currently employed in this house who are not born in the Fire Nation”, the distain in his voice making it clear that if he had his way, they wouldn’t have been hired in the firs place. “Kalara of the Earth Kingdom, and Qilal of the Water Tribe.”

“Qilal said she was born here in the Fire Nation”, Katara said from the Pai Sho table. She quietly corrected Azula’s move while the other girl was being given a cup of chilled lemonade. The Lieutenant bristled. 

“I do all the background checks myself”, he said, not bothering to keep the anger out of his voice. “Her mother died giving birth to her in the Northern Water Tribe. She came to the fire Nation seeking work and has been employed with us for a little over a week. She would not have been hired at all if Princess Azula had not taken a liking to her.”

“She’s only been here a week?” asked Zuko. He had been in a clear spot of grass practicing his forms with his twin Dao swords, but now he stopped short. 

“Yes sir.”

“Summon her here. Now.”

As the Lieutenant scampered to obey, everyone else moved into a defaceable position. It may be nothing, but if was too much that the girl had only been here a week and that the place of her birth was in question. It very well could be a dead end, but Sokka wanted to confirm it as such, and not leave such a little thing hanging above their heads.

Jingshen came to join the others and saw Azula and Katara had abandoned their game. 

“What’s up?” the young boy asked, noticing the tension.

“We’re going to see”, answered Zuko. “You may want to stand out of the way by Katara.”

Jingshen frowned at what he considered a slight, but joined Katara at her urging. A few minutes later, the girl Qilal arrived with her escort. She bowed to Azula, then to Zuko.

“You asked for me my Lord?”

“Sokka has a few questions for you”, Zuko said, nodding in Sokka’s direction. Sokka cleared his throat and the girls blue gaze shifted from Zuko to him.

“Qilal’s your name right? We were wondering, were you born here in the Fire Nation or in the Northern Water Tribe?”

The girl’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly and she glanced at Katara before answering.

“I was born here in the Fire Nation sir.”

“That’s not what you told us when you applied as Princess Azula’s servant”, the Lieutenant snarled. Zuko ordered him to be quiet as Sokka glanced at Toph, who was on his left. She was frowning and shook her head slightly. The girl was lying.

“You wouldn’t have believed me at the time what with my eyes and skin colour if I had told you that I had been born here, would you?” Qilal asked.

“Why did you want to serve Azula?” Sokka said slowly. He sensed more than saw the others drawing the same conclusion from Toph that he had gathered. “This place is so far from the capitol, in the middle of nowhere. There would have been several families I’m sure who would have accepted your application. Why Azula?”

Qilal made a noticeable effort to keep her lip from curling.

“The Princess Azula has few servants willing to serve her, and it was nothing more than a dream of mine to serve the Princess who has traveled far and wide across this world.”

“Is it?” asked Zuko softly as Toph shook her head again. The group began to close in around the servant.

“Where were you before you joined Azula?” asked Sokka. He heard the soft click of his sister’s canteen popping open.

The servant girl bowed her head in shame, her hands clasped in front of her. But when she looked up into Sokka’s face, there was no shame to be found. Instead, her eyes were as cold as ice. She stared at Sokka for a minute before shifting her cold gaze onto Azula.

“If you will forgive me, my Lady?”

Qilal grabbed the air in front of her and brought the Air Whip around, aimed at the entire group.

~~~

Maybe it was spirit. Maybe it was cunning. Maybe it was the training from a ripe young age. Or maybe it was because she was just plain nuts. Somehow, Azula avoided Qilal’s first attack. The same could not be said for the others.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Jingshen, Zuko, and the Guard Captain were all thrown into the side of the house, the Captain crashing straight through a window. Azula dodged to the left, the whip barely missing her, but Qilal didn’t hesitate for a second. She threw a gust towards her, shifting to her right in a cutting motion. Again, Azula dodged, eying her prey and sizing her up. Because that was what Qilal had become to her. Prey.

~~~

Aang struggled to rise to his knees. Glancing down at his feet, he was willing to bet anything that his left ankle was broken. Toph seemed to have faired little better. She was clutching her side that had hit the windowsill, and her breath was laborious. Jingshen, Katara and Zuko seemed to have caught the least of the attack and sported only cuts and bruises, but Sokka clutched at his head, which was bleeding freely.

They were in trouble. The world’s greatest Earthbender had broken ribs. The one with the best aim with both sword and boomerang wasn’t able to focus his eyes because of a head wound. Even the Avatar couldn’t hold a stance to Bend, because of an injured ankle. That left a Master Waterbender, a not even partially trained Airbender, and the Fire Lord, who, if he died, the enemy won anyways.

Not good odds.

Toph groaned. Aang grit his teeth and dragged himself over to the small girl, his left ankle lanced in agony. Zuko was already staunching the bleeding from Sokka’s scalp, and was quickly checking the boy’s pupils and reactions for any more damage. He then pulled out Sokka’s bone club and handed it to Jingshen, muttering instructions to him that were masked by the shrieks and clatter of Azula and Qilal’s clash as they worked their way across the gardens. When Aang finally got over to Toph, he carefully felt over her ribs. She gasped; sure enough, they were broken.

“Katara,” Aang called to her. “Toph’s hurt pretty bad.”

Katara dragged herself over to the prone Earthbender and felt her ribs. “You should get into the fight, Aang,” Katara said, reopening her canteen and finding all of her water had poured out when Qilal had hit her. “This is pathetic. No offence to Jingshen, but he’s no good to Zuko. And I worry about how much Azula may trip herself up.”

“My ankle’s broken. I can’t do a thing yet.”

“Great.”

Katara Bent the water from the creek into her palm and held it over Toph’s ribs. The water began to glow, and then it seeped away. Toph sat up and hissed.

“That’s going to be tender for a while.”

Katara smiled. “Be thankful. It almost punctured your lungs.”

Toph gulped.

“Now for you. I obviously can’t heal your ankle in one go, but maybe enough for you to stand. And you stay here,” she added to Toph, who was getting up to rejoin the fight. “You are not doing any Earthbending with partially healed ribs.”

“You’re going to let Aang fight!”

“Aang still has Waterbending and Airbending, neither of which involves slamming his _foot_. You don’t.”

Toph glowered but sat down, trying hard to suppress a wince. As Katara Bent another handful of water out of the creek, Zuko finished whispering instructions to Jingshen and they ran off to join Azula. Join Azula… She never thought she’d find herself thinking that. 

With that she turned her back and began to heal Aang’s ankle. It was up to them now.

~~~

Understand. Weaken. Destroy.

She had to tease her prey, force it to show her its arsenal. It wasn’t invincible. It certainly had no chance against her, although it had done an admirable job of injuring the Avatar and his friends, who had in turn taken her down before. But it appeared to have used its biggest move as its first attack, and now was using petty tricks and the occasional stunning blow. This was clearly a different type of Airbending then she had grown used to with the Avatar, but there was no doubt that it was indeed Airbending. 

Understanding.

Now, this little bird was extremely fast and flighty, something she assumed must be an Airbender trait, as the Avatar had never stayed in the same position if the fight turned slightly against him. This one was even more so, never staying still long enough to see if its last attack even struck before moving to a new position and attacking again. It gave it the element of being hard to attack, but throw enough at it to have it flit around long enough, and it would begin to weaken and tire. Its endurance couldn’t last forever. 

Weaken.

Once tired, it would become desperate. Desperation would cause the prey to make bolder moves, hoping to end the fight quickly. However, its strength will be diminished from throwing down everything in the beginning, the darting, the Bending, and avoiding Azula’s own attacks, which, though strong during the fight, would be nothing compared to the strength they would carry when her prey began to falter.

Destroy.

Azula’s only unease in this fight was her current trouble with her concentration. To attack with her blue fire had taken years of focus, strength, and discipline to master. The blue fire was hotter, more dangerous, and more likely to hurt its originator than then the commonly used yellow fire, which was one of the main reasons she had decided to master the blue flames. While being more dangerous, it was considerably more powerful, so no one could doubt her mastery of Firebending if she could wield it. 

But the concentration needed just wasn’t there. Despite the fact that her mind felt sharper than it had in ages, she couldn’t bring her thoughts to the final summit of concentration.

To add more delicate steps to this dance of hers, and to perhaps give her back the advantage she needed due to her loss of her blue flames, her brother and the young baby Airbender accompanying them had joined the fight. This would open up even more opportunities for her, as others would distract her prey, and not just focus on the toughest predator in the area.

If the prey saw a victim for itself, it would turn to neutralize it. With her prey thus distracted, she could then neutralize it, herself, and eliminate it. But her prey still needed its victim…

Zuzu was too precious to the Fire Nation to risk. As much as Azula hated to admit it, this was not the right time to restart the war and give her father back the Fire Nation. No. And her little bird wouldn’t be tempted by the worms crawling around the villa right now. They were too far from her prey’s perspective for her to care.

But the boy would do. This was neater than any sophisticated little Pai Sho game; this was something that could truly capture her attention. Her prey, who was wanted by the Avatar, could attack the baby Airbender. An Airbender attacking an Airbender who was attacking an Airbender. She smiled at the vicious circle that had come before her and formed in her little villa.

Could life get any sweeter than this?

~~~

Zuko unsheathed his Dao swords and separated them, quickly taking his first defensive stance. Azula seemed to have come slightly back to herself, and she attacked the rogue Airbender with the flickering yellow flames he hadn’t seen her use in years. 

He took a second to breathe. He was aware of the air in his lungs, the sun on his cheek, and the heat that they brought. Once, his Firebending had been fuelled as he had originally been taught at a young age, by the inner flame, from his rage and anger. It was the same source his sister was using now to attack Qilal, most likely encouraged by the thought that her servant had tried to kill her. As simple as it would be to just let Qilal win, deep in Zuko’s soul, Azula was still his baby sister. His annoying, lying, torturous baby sister who had caused him nothing but hell since she could first plot and talk. To let Qilal win would only hurt what he had been trying so hard to gain over the last couple years he’d become Fire Lord. 

If Azula died, the world would see Aang as a failure all over again, for letting this witch win. They all still thought of it as a Spiritual Imbalance. Zuko would also be viewed as a traitor. If he let Azula die, it could very well be viewed as he was trying to cut off blood ties and possible claims to the throne. The backlash would become even worse once they announced a new child to their family.

And, you know, Azula was still his little sister. He’d learned not to trust her – oh, had he _ever_ learned that! – but especially with her weakened health, he could never let go of a lesson he’d learned at a far earlier age. Take care of your sister.

He took a second breath, allowing the fire of the sun to fill him, raised his Dao, and brought the sword down, a stream of fire following in its wake. Qilal danced out of the way, grabbed a handful of earth and threw it towards him, sending a blast of air behind it. Azula launched herself at the girl, but was batted away in the next instant by a large stick that had hurled itself at her. Her eyes looked slightly shocked and confused. She hadn’t been expecting objects to be Bent towards her.

Jingshen took this moment to swing the bone club at Qilal, and missed completely. In his enthusiastic swing, the young boy had sent himself flying into the fountain. Qilal took advantage of the sudden splash of water, and Bending the air behind it, sent the water cascading over Azula, drenching the Firebender. Azula was absolutely shocked. Zuko saw the woman go in to finish the princess, and brought his sword down to counter, but the woman dodged and retreated from her attack. Jingshen managed to crawl from the deep fountain, looking like a half drowned kitten-monkey, and distracted, Qilal paused.

“Boy,” she queried, nodding her head at Jingshen, “why do you fight with _them?_ The Avatar failed us.”

Jingshen splashed back onto the courtyard, dripping on the flagstones. “Aang didn’t fail anyone,” he muttered. “What’s your problem with him? He’s trying to rebalance the world. You got a problem with that?”

Zuko decided if the two Airbenders were talking he could risk a glance at Azula, who he found was literally steaming. The look of confusion and rage on her face was priceless.

“The Avatar failed,” Qilal screamed. Her fist came down, the air swirled, and there was a thunderous crack as the air she was bending cracked like a whip. “You don’t understand,” she snarled, “just how much he failed us. Failed me! Failed you! He wasn’t there!” She extended a hand to him. “There’s so much I can do to help you. Much more than that unbalanced fool can.”

Jingshen stared at her for a moment then firmly brought his fist together. The air churned and the water dripping from the boy flew in all directions, spraying Qilal, Zuko and Azula, whose clothing hissed as more water hit it. Zuko raised is Dao swords.

“I think you have his answer.”

Qilal glared at him. “Fine. There were the two of us. There have to be more. I don’t need the Avatar’s Airbending lapdog. I was only trying to help you, but you’ve obviously chosen your path.” She grabbed a fistful of air. “And I can’t have you blabbing to the other _witches_ as well. It’s going to be hard enough for them to learn that the Avatar’s balance is the False Balance. I’m sorry, boy. I gave you your chance.”

She twisted and punched her fist forward, air and all, towards Jingshen, who caught the full brunt of the attack. He flew through the ruined wall and out of sight. Zuko charged Qilal while her back was turned, with Azula fast behind him. 

Azula blinked. Qilal had turned and been distracted by the boy, but her mind must have wandered. How pitiful. She should have taken advantage of the moment, not sat there gawking like Ty Lee and her pretty boyfriends. Now she needed to reset the distraction, and Zuko wasn’t helping by getting in the way. She needed him out. Easy enough.

As Zuko charged the witch, Azula took a breath and punched out. The orange fire, not her true blue fire, spilled forward, setting the back of Zuko’s tunic on fire. Zuko sensed it and turned to Bend it away, but Azula took the chance and swiped him off his feet and kicked is Dao swords away. Now it was just her and the traitor.

Her pitiful servant was still looking for the Baby Airbender. As she used her Airbending to shift the rubble, Azula took her chance and tackled her, sending both of them flying. The use of her Firebending in this tight an area was too much of a risk, even with ruinous holes replacing a wall and part of the roof. 

Qilal thrashed and spat, trying to loose Azula’s hold. Azula only cursed and gripped tighter. Along with Firebending, she had also been trained in the forms of hand-to-hand combat, possibly for a situation just like this. However, nothing had prepared her for a piece of her villa’s roof to come crashing onto her skull. Her grip loosened, the older woman squirmed free and bolted into the house. Without a second thought, Azula ran after her, ignoring the others screaming at her to stop.

She could hear her pounding footsteps ahead of her, could hear the footsteps behind her, and could see her servant’s sash trailing behind, telling Azula where she was going. The blood… she didn’t know if it was hers or the woman’s, and she didn’t care. As Azula rounded the corner, she caught sight of her prey, and punched another fist of fire at the fleeting figure, but the woman made an interesting twist with her hands and the fire was extinguished in mid air. She heard a gasp and saw out of the corner of her eye that the Avatar had joined her.

“How did you do that?” he asked, obviously completely shocked.

“It’s never occurred to you to take away a fire’s source of life before?” Qilal snapped. “Again, you prove just how much of a failure you are. Fire needs air. Take the air away, and there can be no fire. That is the Balance!”

If only to prove her point, Qilal turned to the lantern closest to them and twitched her hand again. Azula realized what she was doing almost a second too late, as the lantern shattered and the fire flared into the room. Azula caught the flame and quenched it, but ended up regretting it slightly as the shards of glass shredded her hands.

She screamed, but before she could do anything, Katara was by her side, plucking the glass from her cuts. She was about to jerk her hands away, but then Zuko was at her side, pinning her down. As Katara pulled the last piece of glass from her wrists and palms, the Waterbender cupped a palmful of water and held it over Azula’s hands. As she watched, the bleeding stopped and the flesh began to knit, but only to a certain point. They were still raw, and very obviously injured, but she was no longer losing arterial blood.

“That’s all I can do for now,” Katara explained. “We need to hurry and get Qilal before she escapes.”

Azula nodded once before she was off again, ignoring the pain, intent only on Qilal. She caught up to the woman where she had obviously been intending to make her escape central courtyard, halfway up a tree and looking to the nearest rooftop. Azula laughed in delight and began climb the tree as well, forgetting for the moment about her Firebending altogether. Qilal snarled and leapt back to the ground, aware that escape was not yet possible. Azula followed, and as her attack missed its target, she made a bad landing and fell to her knees. 

Aang ran into the courtyard and threw a gust of wind at Qilal, but the woman dodged, grabbed a fistful of air, and cracked it like a whip towards Aang. Though it couldn’t be seen, it had clearly made contact, because Aang screamed and he fell with a large red welt on his upper left arm. Azula was already reaching to the flame in the lantern near Qilal, saw the girl turn, to clearly do the same to her as she had done to Aang, but she raised her hand. Too late. Azula already had control of the flame and the girl had presented her the target she had so badly needed. A flash and a scream later, Qilal was on the ground, writhing and screaming in pain, the hand she had used so much for her insane Airbending now hopefully burnt beyond even Katara’s ability to heal. A flash later, and her other hand joined the first.

Victory was hers. Her prey was weakened, ready to be destroyed. But as she moved in for the kill, the Avatar stepped in her way.

“No, stop, Azula!”

She paused, and turned to the Avatar with a question in her eyes. “What? Isn’t this the person you’ve been after all this time? Or did I…do I…”

Aang stumbled over the words. It was so weird; the Azula he remembered was always scarily certain in her actions. 

Zuko stepped in, clearly in the habit of assuming control by now. “Please, Azula. We don’t have to kill her if Aang doesn’t want to.”

“Well, what are you going to do with her, then?” Azula snapped, as her brother tied the captive woman’s wrists behind her back.

“For one thing,” Katara interjected as she grabbed the sash around Qilal’s waist and used it to bind the girl’s damaged hands behind her back, “I would like to know if she has a reason for doing all of this.”


	11. Chapter 11

The group looked down on their captive, quietly nursing various injuries. Jingshen, Aang was relieved to see, staggered back into the broken courtyard and sat propped against the wall, glaring at the Airbending woman.

“Right!” Aang recovered, “And I have questions, too! Like how you’re doing this, and are you really another Airbender? I’ve never seen anything like what you do, before, but I didn’t recognise what Jingshen was doing, either…” He trailed off, unnerved by the low, harsh laughter trickling from their Qilal’s lips.

“Fool, fool, you’re such a fool,” the woman spat, all servant girl pretence gone. “It’s amazing how easily you wreck the balance of the world.”

“What do you know about that?”

“Hah! The Avatar!?” Qilal twisted in her bonds, turning to face Aang. “It’s _your_ fault that the world is such a mess! Where were you for the last hundred years? Where were you when things fell out of balance, and the Fire Nation started destroying the world? They’ve killed everybody!”

“We’ve made some mistakes, yes, but we’re trying to make things better.” Zuko frowned. “Murdering my family is not going to help with that.”

“She is a criminal,” Sokka limped into the open air, slurring his speech a little. “What’re we gonna do with her?”

“Well, we’ve caught her here, in the Fire Nation, but she’s killed people all around the world. Do you think you could put her on trial for that, Zuko?”

“I don’t know if we have enough evidence for the kind of thing you have in mind. I can have her locked up for attempted crimes against myself and Azula, or I can put her on trial for an execution for the Fire Nation citizens she’s killed, but—”

“No,” Aang interrupted. “I’d rather we didn’t have any more death because of this.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Well, that’s what I can think of right now. It’s probably up to you, Aang, if you want to involve the other nations as well.”

“Do you think…maybe you could hold on to her until I speak with the others? It would take me a little while to talk to King Kuei, and Chiefs Arnook and Hakoda, but I think I’d rather speak with them in person about this. Especially with Chief Arnook, ‘cause it’s gotten really personal with Arvik’s death and all… I know there’s nothing we can do to fix that, but I want him, no, all of them in on the judgement.”

“You think you can fix everything!” Qilal broke her silence with a hateful snarl. “You’ve done _nothing_ to fix the world. You disappeared when the Air Nomads were wiped out, and you’ve just wasted your time since you returned! You should have just _died_ a hundred years ago, and let _me_ become the Avatar!”

Zuko’s lip curled in disgust, “You said you were from the Northern Water Tribe. How did you learn anything about Airbending there?”

Silence, but a mocking smirk.

Azula shook her captive. “He asked you a question. Who did you learn from?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“ _Who_ did you _learn from?_ ”

“I was born in the Northern Water Tribe, you simple fools! They called me a witch and a demon! There was no one to learn _from_.” Her slow grin held all the humour and joviality of a sharkopus. “Well, no one _human_.”

“What?” Aang’s brown drew together in confusion. “But you don’t bend anything like how the Air Bison taught us.”

“The arctic poles are full of spirits, Avatar. When the sun refuses to rise, you can see more things than you could possibly imagine.”

“And I bet that the spirits you saw told you to huff and puff, and blows all the houses down,” Toph snarled.

“Don’t you belittle the spirits, little girl, or they’ll be after you next! Their vengeance is more terrible than even mine!”

Azula’s laughter rang like a bell through the room. “I’d like the see them try! At least a good fight seems to ease the absolute _boredom_ around here!”

“You’re crazy!”

“ _Don’t call me crazy!_ ”

Azula’s sudden burst of anger rippled through her concentration, but the short moment was the chance that Qilal had been waiting for. She twisted with a movement that was somehow fluid but without a hint of grace, and the bonds around her charred wrists snapped. The woman bent and leapt, and Azula dropped to the floor. The poor girl’s head was twisted at an uncomfortable angle, blood flecking her lips, and she did not rise. Before anyone could react, Qilal stretched and grasped the very fabric of the air, and it responded like a predatory animal in her grasp. She struck, a giant fist of air pounding Sokka to the far wall and simultaneously knocking Toph off her feet. Another clawed blast ripped and tore through the room, shredding through Zuko’s arm, and throwing his scorching attack dangerously close to Katara.

Aang moved, his lightweight dodges easily countering the third and next blast of air. He leapt again, but the air current turned like a snake – impossible! – and caught him by his weakened ankle, throwing him to the floor with a loud crack. The air flew from his lungs with the impact, and he strained to draw it back. This was not a time to lose control. 

The floor lurched around him, and his ankle began to throb even more. but he saw Qilal nimbly leap to the top of Toph’s new marble pillars. Aang heard the snap of ice forming as Katara regained her footing, but it was overlaid by their enemy’s exultant laughter. They were too slow; Airbender or not, how did she manage to _move_ like that? Aang felt so sluggish as he pulled himself to his feet, but the feeling was quickly supplanted by nausea as his left wrist refused to support any weight or pressure. Broken. 

Gulping down the pain – he could still control his chi that much, at least – Aang took a quick survey of the situation. Sokka was down for the count, and he would be so _pissed_ when he woke up. Jingshen was picking himself up carefully from Toph’s attack on Qilal. Toph herself was pinned to the high part of the wall, where she couldn’t fight against the wooden pillars of the ceiling. Wait, okay, Toph was down, but that was a hard landing. It was just in time, though; with Toph herding Qilal to the other side of the room, it gave Katara a chance to stop the arterial blood gushing from Zuko’s upper arm, and space for Aang to move. Time to finish this.

Aang launched himself across the room with a touch of Earthbending, and switched in midair to throw a handful of ice needles at Qilal. Great, now he had all of her attention. He ducked between two horizontal blades of air – again, how did she _do_ that? – and shot a jet of fire towards the opening she left to her side. As soon as he landed, however, he kicked the floor with his good leg. When the woman dodged to her right to avoid the flames, a marble pillar shot out of the wall, catching her in the back.

Aang held his glider to the mad woman’s throat, as she drew herself back up to her feet. Standoff. She couldn’t move, not knowing what the glider could do, but Aang didn’t want to kill her. He didn’t even want to knock her out, no, he had too many questions that he still wanted to ask her. It still didn’t make sense – why did all of this have to happen?

But she stood only steps away from where she had left Azula bleeding, unconscious on the ground. Oh, no; he had to get her to move away. Distract her.

Aang called out to the woman, “You said you’re worried about a great Spiritual Imbalance, but I don’t understand. Why did you go around and kill those people?”

“Why kill them? Someone had to.”

“Why would you ever have to _kill_ anybody??” Just keep her talking, and circle around her, slowly. She should shift with him, and move away from where Azula lay…

“Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. They kept to themselves before the Fire Nation attacked. Long ago, people stayed where they _belonged_ , and only the Avatar travelled to master all four elements. These people’s very lives were wrecking this harmony. Waterbenders are being born in the Earth Kingdom, Earthbenders in the Fire Nation, and look at me! An _Airbender_ from the Northern Water Tribe! Do you know what they _do_ with us, Avatar? Do you know what it’s like to be doused in ice water as a typical greeting? To be left alone in the middle of an ice field, with you hands tied together? You sit in palaces, and _spit_ on those of us who need you most, because you don’t care enough to take care of these horrible influences!”

“That’s...that’s not _true_ , the Air Nomads used to visit all the nations, and there was a lot of trade going on between them, too! The nations all need each other!”

She scoffed. “Why would the Airbenders need to leave their temples for long periods of time? The world was good, then. You wouldn’t need anywhere else to call home – why else did every single one of the Airbenders die in their temples when they fought to defend them?”

“They’re important, it’s true, but that’s because they’re where the students and the Elder Monks stay! It’s like the Air Bison, you don’t know—”

“You’re right. I don’t.” She hurled another cutting blade of air.

Her attack was easily dodged. “No! Listen! As soon as you’re old enough, if you’ve mastered enough of your Airbending forms, you _beg_ the older Airbenders to take you with them. There’s so much to see, so much to _do_ , that…home is the people you care about, not the place where you think you’ll find them. That’s what it means to be an Airbender.”

“You are stupid and naïve and still such a fool.”

“If you’re an Airbender, you have to understand this, at least a little! You’ve been all over the world, now; would you return to live at the North Pole if you didn’t have to?”

“I’d tear it to the ground! It’s more than they deserve! It’s their fault… If they’d upheld the balance, and been good people, then there would never be Firebenders and Earthbenders born to the Water Tribes! There wouldn’t be Waterbenders in the Foggy Swamp! _I would be a Waterbender!_ ”

“You would be… because you’re an Airbender…no, but…” Aang looked like someone had hit him in the face.

She sneered. “You’re more than a little dense, aren’t you? You know what I am, and where I came from, and you still question that the world is out of balance!”

“I think… I think you’re wrong!”

“What?”

“You keep saying it yourself! _I am_ the Avatar, and I have witnessed no spiritual imbalance! The only thing that is wrong with this world, right here, right now, is _you_ , and that’s because you go around killing innocent people! _There is no Spiritual Imbalance!_ ”

“Fool, then how do you explain—”

“You call them Benders that are out of place, but they’re _not!_ You don’t understand that Bending, no matter what element, is a special, spiritual connection to this world! Of _course_ there are more Earthbenders in the Earth Kingdoms, and Waterbenders in the Water Tribes, but that’s because they’re closer to their element, so they probably have a better connection that way. But didn’t you notice that Bending doesn’t always run in the family? That’s why Katara’s such a powerful Waterbender, but Sokka and their family can’t Bend a drop! I once met twins who looked completely identical, but only one of them was an Earthbender. It makes sense if it doesn’t matter where you’re born!

“No matter where you are, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdoms, or the Fire Nation, you need water, earth, and fire to survive. Anywhere someone lives, they have the _potential_ to form a spiritual connection to any of those elements, and become a Bender. And no matter where you go….air is everywhere. Everyone needs air. Anyone, anywhere, could be an Airbender!!”

“So what? Are you going to try to tell me, now, that the reason the Air Nomads travelled around the world was so they could find all these little wayward Airbenders? Life isn’t some little spirit-story, Avatar, where nothing can go wrong!”

“Well, I don’t actually know. Maybe they did. Maybe they did! I know that I don’t have anyone to ask, and I don’t have anyone to teach me, and that’s an enormous loss that I’m going to have to deal with. But I do know that I’ve found Jingshen, and I guess I’ve found you, too! Maybe it’s something I’m going to have to work out by myself. Maybe it’s not tradition, after all, but you’ve come up with a great idea!”

“And now you’re going to ask me to travel with you, and help you find all the poor lost little koala-sheep?”

“Would you?”

The woman spat, “I would rather die!”

“Good.”

Azula was raising herself up from the cold stone floor, and wiped away the trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. Qilal started at this intrusion into their conversation, but her eyes quickly narrowed. She raised a hand, fingers curved to carve and rend, and the very air shimmered in the ghost of a talon around her.

“You _dared_ to strike me?” Azula snarled, her eyes glowing like coals from suppressed anger. “That was stupid.”

A great fountain of blue flame roared, stretching from floor to the high ceiling. Heat-blasted air tore through the courtyard, attempting to escape through the rends in the walls, but this seemed to only fan the flames to a hot, bright white. Feminine laughter trickled through the air currents, but Aang, shielding his face from the heat, couldn’t tell from which woman it originated.

After a moment the wind and flame both died down.

Azula stood by a pile of ash and bone, and studied her lightly scorched palms with disdain. “It’s a pity; she’s the one that brought me the good hand cream.”

“What? That’s it? You killed her? She was the one going around killing all the high-ranking officers, and high-profile politicians, all because of the four nations getting along! We needed to bring her before the world to bring her to justice!”

“I really don’t care.”

“How- _how_ can you not care about something like that??”

“You actually _listened_ to what she said? I’m sure it was all nonsense.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“Deal with it,” she said, and simply walked out of the room.


	12. Chapter 12

Aang was moving stiffly, but talked the younger boy through the slow, circular patterns. He wasn’t sure if Aang could see it, but admiration and respect were shining in Jingshen’s eyes as the two worked through a particularly difficult move. A column of air twisted and whirled above them, and Sokka joined in on their laughter. Not because the Bending was particularly astounding – I mean, who needs it, really? – but more because it looked like they were enjoying themselves for once. Well, hey, why not join in?

“Guys, heads up! He called, and tossed his boomerang in a loose arc through the sky.

Jingshen moved, quicker than anyone else would have expected. With a few steps, a twist, and a bit of fancy-pants wristwork, boomerang had twirled out of its trajectory and over to the duo. Jingshen leapt for it, but missed, and the projectile fell neatly into Aang’s open hand.

“What!” the younger boy cried. “I totally had that!”

Aang laughed all the harder. “Your movements are good, but we need to work on your leg strength. You should join me next time when I train with Zuko or Toph!”

If Sokka expected a tantrum or argument from Jingshen over yet another imagined insult, then he was sorely disappointed. The kid almost looked happy at the suggestion. Unbelievable.

“How much farther is it to the Northern Airbending Temple?” asked Katara with a small smile. She sat down beside her brother. “How’s your head feeling?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he replied, before Katara decided to start playing nurse. “We’re about a day away, now.”

“So this Mechanist guy,” Jingshen said, coming over to join them. “He’s going to teach me Airbending? And how to fly?”

“He isn’t an Airbender,” Aang corrected, rubbing an ankle that still ached despite Katara’s healing sessions. “He took over the Northern Air Temple a while back, and I think it would be a good idea for you to study at the temple. Plus you could learn a thing or two from him about how he manipulates air, even though he can’t Bend it to save his life.”

“So why can’t I come with you guys?”

“You need to settle down for a while and begin to learn how to Bend properly. I’ve shown you the basics, now you need to practice. You need time to concentrate, and you’re not going to get that while following us. We also don’t really know what we’re going to be getting ourselves into. Now go pack. We should probably get in the air soon.” Aang stood firm for a moment, then relaxed his shoulders and added, “We’ll come by to visit you a lot. It’s a really cool place, with really good people.”

Jingshen complied, although slightly unwillingly. As the three of them watched him trudge over to Appa and Momo, Sokka sighed.

“You really don’t think we should have brought Toph for this? He would listen to her.” Sokka asked quietly.

“She still needs time to heal those broken ribs,” Katara answered. She threw a glance at Aang. “And I still think Aang should be healing that ankle of his before we go off seeking whatever spirit helped Qilal and is trying to wreak havoc.”

“If we wait, how do we know that another murderer isn’t going to come along and try and finish the job?” Aang retorted, going down the familiar path of this argument. “We need to figure out what spirit is going around manipulating unaware Airbenders.”

“At least that’s something both Zuko and Toph can do. They can go off announcing that anyone claimed as a witch is most likely an Airbender.”

“That town better feel pretty crummy when they find out what they did to Jingshen’s family,” Sokka muttered darkly.

They continued to watch the young untrained Airbender chase Momo around the saddle, trying to retrieve a stolen sock. He looked none the worse for the wear after being thrown into the side of a house.

“To think I was once worried that the Avatar Cycle was destroyed,” Aang muttered. “Now I’m worried about how many other Airbenders hate me.”

“They won’t hate you, Aang,” Katara instantly replied. Sokka didn’t look so certain.

“Qilal did.”

“Qilal was nuts and was manipulated by what I’m sure is a rogue spirit,” Katara said. “We’ll go figure out what that spirit’s problem is, then we can go and find your young Airbenders to begin their training.”

“Sounds good to me. At least this will all have made an interesting story to tell them when I find them.”

“Oh no you don’t!” called Sokka.

Aang and Katara looked at him, confused, but Sokka wasn’t looking at them. He had eyes only for Jingshen, who had discovered the last of Sokka’s stash of cowpig jerky from Omashu. Jingshen grinned and grabbed the bag.

“No! Jingshen, put it down! It’s MINE!!!”

“Come and get it!”

Sokka went charging after the boy, who even as they watched, was eating the stuff while he was running. Katara glanced at Aang, who looked disinclined to do anything to about the mad chase going on.

The all-powerful Avatar shrugged. “My ankle hurts”

**Author's Note:**

> Reader_of_Books, if you see this, please let me know your AO3 account name so I can credit you properly. I had so much fun writing this story with you, I wanted to make sure it's preserved.


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